The Fee Increase & Tobacco Owners Business

Cigarettes sold with high prices can affect not only smokers but those who sell them. Because starting with the New Year, convenience store owners will be paying a higher fee to register to sell tobacco products due to state lawmakers passing a new law in the 2009-10 budgets. The old fee was $100 across the board, no matter how much tobacco the business sold. However, now the fee is increasing depending on the gross sales in the business of all products, including gas and other items not related to tobacco.

For example, if a store does less than $1 million in large sales annually the registration fee will increase to $1,000, but for businesses doing sales between $1 million to $10 million the new costs to sell tobacco will be $2,500, and for places doing more than $10 million in business the new costs of selling cigarettes will be $5,000.

Locally, the measure has some business owners afraid if they comment on the registration fee increase they could face more punishment from the state for voicing their dissatisfactions. One area convenience store owner answered questions from The Post-Journal about the fee increase, but when asked his name he declined out of fear that the state could find another way to hurt his business for commenting on the issue.

’’Sure it’s going to affect my business because I don’t plan to sell them after the first of the year,’’ said one of tobacco owners.

The owner reported also that the state and federal government already make plenty of money from taxes, why increase the fee as well. The Hi-Way Gas station in Jamestown said also that the fee will probably affect business because of the high volume of sales the convenience store does.

Bu the way antismoking advocates favor the increases. The American Cancer Society and Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids also favor higher cigarette taxes, saying they help reduce teenage smoking. The Washington-based Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids said that for every 10 percent increase in the price of cigarettes, youth smoking drops 7 percent and general demand dips about 4 percent.