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May 25, 2004 - NEW YORK: Convenience stores are losing customers
to online cigarette vendors, having seen their 60 percent share of sales slowly
go up in smoke.Many Internet services are run by Native American tribes, which
don't have the same tax obligations and are able to charge lower prices for
cigarettes.
Web sales have already taken away an estimated $1.5 billion in tax revenues
from shops, according to a report put out by the federal Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms.But some Indian reservations face delivery restrictions
in many states and recently lost a court appeal that would have made it easier
to use shipping companies to deliver packs of cigarettes.The tribe's attorney,
Joseph Crangle, argues the ban is detrimental to Native Americans income.
"It's almost really almost racist, quite frankly for recent attacks against
the Indian entrepreneurship that these folks have developed these last several
years," Crangle said.Lobbyists for the convenience stores say not only
are tribes skipping out on tax payments, but they are selling to minors. One
group involved with the fight is the FACT Alliance for the Fair Application
of Cigarette Taxes, an advocacy group against tax evasion on cigarettes.
December 15, 2003 - Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers on Monday filed a stipulated judgment against http://www.cigoutlet.net, Inc., a Fenton, Mo., Internet tobacco seller that was sued in April for allegedly selling cigarettes on the Internet to a 14-year-old Oregon minor.
Under the judgment, the company admits no liability and agrees to comply with the new Sales and Delivery Restrictions Law in Oregon, which becomes effective January 1, 2004. The company also paid Justice $15,000 for its consumer protection and education revolving fund.We will not waiver in our stand against the sale of tobacco products to our children, Myers said. Armed with a new law that makes it very clear to tobacco retailers that it is illegal to make a delivery sale of tobacco to minors, the state will continue to dutifully monitor sales on the Internet.Attorney General Myers challenged Oregon parents to join him in protecting their children's health by learning about the new law on tobacco delivery sales and watching for violations by monitoring their children's activities on the Internet and over the telephone.
As of Jan. 1, 2004, tobacco product sellers must comply with
the Sales and Delivery Restrictions Law (HB2368, sections 73-82) as follows:Businesses
selling cigarettes to Oregonians must obtain a distributors license from the
State of Oregon and sell only Oregon stamped products.Businesses selling cigarettes
and tobacco products may not make a delivery sale to a person who is under the
minimum legal purchasing age of 18.Cigarette and tobacco sellers accepting a
purchase order for a delivery sale must first obtain written certification of
the buyer's legal age and address. The seller must then verify the information
through a database.The buyers must be warned that it is illegal to sign another
person's name to the certificate and that it is illegal to buy tobacco under
the age of 18.Internet cigarette and tobacco sales can only be charged to a
credit or debit card issued under the same name as the purchaser.The seller
must use a shipping service that requires an adult's signature upon delivery
of the product. Adults under 27 years of age must provide valid, government-issued
photo identification.