Ban on menthol cigarettes sends sales to black market, convenience store owners say
Convenience store owners already suffering from slow sales amid the coronavirus pandemic say a ban on menthol cigarettes has set the stage for a thriving black market “on every corner of the city.”
“The biggest problem facing us right now is people going out of state, buying cigarettes, coming in front of stores and selling,” said Humayun Morshed, secretary of the Boston Convenience Store Owners Association.
Massachusetts’ toughest-in-the-nation ban on flavored tobacco products — including menthol cigarettes and mint and wintergreen — went into effect on June 30, despite staunch opposition from store owners. The law was intended to keep tobacco products out of the hands of youngsters, but critics say it has instead spawned a thriving illicit market.
Now, they’re demanding lawmakers to repeal the ban and say they have evidence it has led to a spike in crime and tax evasion. Pointing to still photographs clipped from a series of videos depicting alleged street-level black market cigarette sales, the store owners obtained through a private detective, Morshed said, “This is happening on every corner of the city… and in every corner of the state.”
As recently as Wednesday, Attorney General Maura Healey announced an indictment on related charges. Ali Houdroge, 54, of Sharon faces tax evasion and money laundering charges for the alleged weekly importation of “tens of thousands of dollars of tobacco products from out of state to sell to retail stores in Worcester, Norfolk and Plymouth counties, without paying any taxes.”
Convenience store owners say they have seen their individual sales drop as much as 30% and said crime is on the rise as people have turned to illicit markets instead, Morshed said.
Cigarette sales plummeted 24% statewide, leading to a $32 million dip in tobacco excise taxes since the ban began, according to the Department of Revenue. Meanwhile, New Hampshire and Rhode Island — where the products are still legal — have seen sales spike.
Massachusetts is on track to lose $93 million in tax revenue from tobacco products in a year where coronavirus has sent revenues on a nosedive. DOR Commissioner Geoffrey Snyder warned lawmakers at a Wednesday budget hearing that 2021 tax revenues will come in $2.7 billion to $5.2 billion under pre-pandemic projections, setting up budget-balancing challenges.
As a small group of store owners gathered in front of the State House on Thursday, the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Health conducted an email-only hearing on Senate Bill 2911, “an Act to Protect Communities of Color,” which would suspend the menthol ban for 12 months from the date of the bill’s passage.
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3ltGcDq
Post a Comment