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When smoking could be hazardous to your business
I’m still stumped on the best way to respond when I’m with a client and they pull out a cigarette.
Feds seek full court review of cigarette warnings
RICHMOND, Va. — The U.S. government is asking a federal appeals court to rehear a challenge to a requirement that tobacco companies to put large graphic health warnings on cigarette packages. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington in August affirmed a lower court ruling blocking the Food and Drug Administration […]
House committee does away with 5.75 percent top tax rate
ANNAPOLIS — Fewer taxpayers would be affected by an income tax increase approved Monday under a House panel’s plan then one approved by the state Senate last week. The House plan also rejected the idea of applying the state’s sales tax to online sales, which was supported by Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democrat, and the Senate. […]
U.S. appeals court backs graphic cigarette labels
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A federal law requiring cigarette packages to carry graphic warnings about the dangers of smoking and restricts how tobacco products may be marketed and advertised passes constitutional muster, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. The case is one of two by tobacco companies against the federal rules that would make them slap […]
Small retailers don’t want tobacco tax hike
ANNAPOLIS – Raising tobacco taxes in Maryland may only force smokers across state lines, where neighboring states and Washington, D.C., impose lower levies, a lobbyist for small retailers told a Senate panel Wednesday. Senate Bill 526 would raise taxes on a pack of cigarettes by $1 — from $2 to $3 — and also raise […]
Va. man agrees to $5M restitution in cigarette case
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — A businessman convicted in a cigarette smuggling case has agreed to pay restitution totaling more than $5 million to Virginia, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania and New York City. U.S. Attorney Timothy Heaphy says 50-year-old Vijay N. Patel of Fredericksburg also will forfeit $625,000. Patel pleaded guilty Friday in federal court in Charlottesville […]
4 charged in $5.7M cigarette ring
SCITUATE, R.I. — Four Syrian men are facing charges they participated in a cigarette smuggling ring in Rhode Island that relied on cigarettes from southern states with lower cigarette taxes to swindle the cash-strapped Ocean State out of an estimated $5.7 million in tax revenue, authorities said Wednesday. Investigators say the ring is the biggest […]
Judge questions images for cigarette packages
WASHINGTON — A federal judge peppered a government lawyer with questions Wednesday expressing doubts about whether the Food and Drug Administration can force tobacco companies to post graphic images on their cigarette packages showing the health effects of smoking. In a two-hour hearing, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon closely questioned Justice Department lawyer Mark Stern […]
Tobacco companies file lawsuit over warning labels
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Tobacco companies want a judge to put a stop to new graphic cigarette labels that include the sewn-up corpse of a smoker and pictures of diseased lungs, saying they unfairly urge adults to shun their legal products and will cost millions to produce. Four of the five largest U.S. tobacco companies sued […]
FDA to issue new graphic cigarette warning labels
Coming to a store near you: nine more reasons not to smoke. In the most significant change to U.S. cigarette packs in 25 years, the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday is set to release nine new warning labels that will depict in graphic detail the negative health effects of tobacco use. Among the possible […]
Md. man pleads guilty in untaxed cigarette scheme
GREENBELT — A Maryland man has pleaded guilty to conspiring with others in a scheme to transport and distribute untaxed cigarettes. Chun Chen of Bowie, Md., pleaded guilty Friday in federal court in Greenbelt. According to a plea agreement, Chen owned a restaurant in Maryland and for approximately six months bought untaxed cigarettes from two […]
