Source: AZCentral.com
By: Brittany Smith
Posted: Feb.22nd, 2012
Customers of Tobacco Mizer save $30 on the equivalent of a carton of cigarettes by buying loose tobacco and hollow tubes and then renting a machine that rolls their cigarettes.
The finished cigarettes come cheap because they aren’t subject to the same state and federal taxes as those from companies considered manufacturers under Arizona law.
For Bob Mizer, the store’s co-owner, this allows his operation to compete with tobacco stores on reservations, where customers pay less in excise taxes.
That’s why Mizer and other roll-your-own shop owners say a bill advancing in the state Legislature would be a death blow.
House Bill 2717, authored by Rep. Jim Weiers, R-Phoenix, would classify businesses with cigarette-rolling machines as manufacturers and subject them to the same regulations and taxes as companies that produce finished cigarettes.
The House Commerce Committee endorsed the bill earlier this month.
Mizer said if he were classified as a manufacturer, he would be required to obtain a state manufacturing license. However, those seeking a state license must first obtain a federal manufacturing license, and with that comes a prohibition against selling directly to customers in the area where they manufacture cigarettes.
Mizer said he’d have no option other than giving up his three rolling machines and put his 13 employees out of work.
John Mangum, an attorney representing Altria Group Inc., which manufactures cigarettes, told the committee that without a law customers will migrate to stores such as Mizer’s. That will cut into revenue from the federal manufacturer’s tax and state manufacturer’s tax, he said.
Read More: AZCentral.com
Tags: altria, altria group, altria group inc, arizona law, bob mizer, cigarette rolling machines, death blow, hollow tubes, loose tobacco, tobacco stores
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