Just a few months ago the state of the cigar industry in New Mexico looked like it was headed toward its demise. As the state proposed a tripling of the cigar taxes to 76% many cigar shops were worried they would be forced to shut their doors sending their customers to order cigars online. On the last day of legislative calendar the luck of the Irish shined down on Jack Sweeney, owner of a Santa […]
As the 2019 Legislative session was about to get underway, State Senator Cisco McSorely (D-Albuquerque) introduced bill that would dramatically raise the tobacco tax by 204%. Shortly after introducing the bill that would be catastrophic to retailers in New Mexico the Senator resigned his seat to take a job in the administration of Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. The bill sat in the legislature without a sponsor and the hope that it would go away. However […]
Each week we list all the legislation in one easy to find place. This week brings stories from Alabama, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey and New Mexico. Adams, MA – The Board of Health last week agreed to update all the town’s tobacco regulations during the process of increasing the legal age of buying tobacco from 18 to 21. The new measure doesn’t come as a new regulation; but rather an amendment to […]
Like clockwork each and every January brings the proposal of new taxes and within a lot of those proposals are taxes that could affect the cigar industry. Such is the case in New Mexico where Democrat Senator Howie Morales has proposed to raise the cigar tax a whopping 165% According to Senate Bill 77, the tax on cigars and OTP products would increase from 25% to 66% percent. The legislature is expected to vote on the […]