While we have made some progress in our fight to eliminate (or at least moderate) the outrageous cigar tax increase proposed in the pending SCHIP bill, we still have a LONG way to go.

All of us – manufacturers, retailers, consumers - have to continue to tell our elected Senators and Representatives to remove the cigar tax increase and that cigars are already paying their fair share of taxes. To help in this endeavor, we are asking you to display the enclosed “Cigar Smokers Already Pay Their Fair Share” poster up in your smokeshop.

1. Please go to http://capwiz.com/cigarassociation/dbq/
   officials and enter your zip code to get the names of your 2 Senators and Representative.
2. Click “info” underneath the name to get their telephone numbers
3. Write the names and telephone numbers, where indicated, on the poster.
4. Have your customers call these elected officials while they are in your store to ask them to remove the cigar tax increase when the bill comes to a vote again. Your customer should also tell them that cigars are already the highest taxed item in the federal tax code and are already paying their fair share.

Arguments you can make in your email to our elected officials are that

1. Cigars are already paying it fair share of taxes, the same as wine, beer and whiskey
2. At the current 20.72% rate, not only are cigars taxed higher than any other tobacco product (including cigarettes) but they are taxed higher than any product on which federal taxes are levied.
3. Luxury taxes don’t work – the 30% luxury tax Congress enacted in 1990 and had to repeal the next year proved that
4. if the outrageous 6,000% tax increase being proposed (on the cap) is enacted, their won’t be a cigar industry left to tax.
5. There are 40,000 American cigar industry workers and retailers who will lose their jobs and “family farm”.

I have never seen our entire industry ­- retailers, manufacturers and importers - ever pull together for any issue like this before. But it’s going to take this united effort to win this fight. So don’t wait for someone else to fight the fight - do your part. Ask you customer to contact your Senators and Representative today!

Eric Newman, President
J.C. Newman Cigar Co.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 at 8:20 am and is filed under Cigar Tax. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.