Cigars Taxed, Senators Smokers

More than a dozen lobbyists for retailers and tobacco companies argued Tuesday before state senators considering whether to seek an estimated $15 million or more in improved tax collections by changing how cigars are taxed. The Department of Revenue testified before the Tax Collection Technology Subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee that 7-23 percent of tobacco sold in the state is not taxed as required by law. That’s because cigars are usually sold separately, unlike cigarettes and chewing tobacco, which come in packages that carry a tax stamp.

Tobacco Sales in Iceland Increased

Sales in loose tobacco in Iceland have increased by 34 percent during the first nine months of this year compared to the same period last year, according to data from the State Alcohol and Tobacco Company of Iceland (ÁTVR). At the same time, sales in cigarettes, the price of which has risen to over ISK 1,000 (USD 8, EUR 6.30), have decreased. Arnþór Indriðason, staff member at tobacco store Björk, says a lot of his customers have started to roll their own cigarettes over the last year since the price of a pack of cigarettes increased.

Tobacco-Free Campus, Virginia Cigarette Smokers

In my 20 or so years of life, I have never once smoked a cigarette. Scientific research has compiled mountains of evidence suggesting cigarette smoking is bad for one’s health. Although this is the case and I personally do not smoke cigarettes, I would never tell someone they could not smoke cigarettes, as long as they were of legal age. However, the government does not share my philosophy. On Sep. 12, the assistant secretary of health at the U.S. Department of Human Services, Howard Koh, announced the launch of a tobacco-free college campus initiative.

Australia and Tobacco Companies Rights

Australia did not violate tobacco companies' intellectual property rights by forcing them to sell cigarettes in plain packets, Australia's highest court said on Friday, killing off any domestic challenge to the plain-packet ruling. Australia's highest court in August dismissed a challenge by international cigarette companies to tough anti-tobacco marketing laws in a major test case that means from December 1, cigarettes and tobacco products must be sold in plain green packets with graphic health warnings, such as pictures of mouth cancer and other smoking-related illnesses.