Written by Larry Waters Saturday, 31 October 2009 17:54
Internet Tobacco Purchase Ban Moves Forward...with help from your local convenience store!
The PACT Act, legislation to ban the sale of ALL tobacco products over the Internet, has been quietly moving forward. Back on September 21, 2008, SnusCENTRAL.org published an incredibly incisive and brilliantly written detailed article entitled Cigarettes, Snus; ALL Tobacco (except Cigars): Internet Purchases to be BANNED in the USA???? The bill didn't make it through the the 110th Congress before the Session ended. It was quickly re-introduced during the current 111th Congressional Session to some but little fanfare.
The Kennedy/Waxaman legislative farce giving FDA control over the tobacco industry received a lot of headlines, talk, energy. When President Obama finally signed this Philip Morris USA sponsored and partially written embarrassment, most of us went back to discussing our favorite Swedish Snuses and especially this time of year, all the new snus products being released by Sweden and Denmark.
Some even said that with US unemployment at a 26 year high, the economy in shambles the likes of which not seen since (optimistically) the post-World War II recession or (realistically) the Great Depression, PACT would not even be one the legislative agenda this year. But like a snake moving through high grass, PACT has continued to move forward and is rapidly approaching the point where the grass ends and it bites us with it's poisonous venom. On November 5th 2009, the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote to move PACT to the Senate floor for "debate".
The latest interest group to throw it's public support behind PACT is the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS). In an October 30, 2009 article-link entitled:
PACT Act Would Crackdown On Illegal Tobacco Sales
The legislation appears to have broad support as it aims to clear up gaps in the current federal law.
Of course the legislation has broad support....from brick and mortar tobacco and convenience stores who are rapidly losing business to Internet-based tobacco stores. Broad support from Big Government Tax hungry Politicians who go as far as classifying Internet Tobacco Product Buyers as Terrorists in the same league with Hezbollah and Al Qadea....REALLY; it is in the legislation!
The holiday season may be upon us but American tobacco, smokeless tobacco, and Swedish Snus users can not afford to be complacent. The PACT Act will restrict our availability to our favorite products, significantly increase taxes and prices on imported tobacco....like Swedish and Scandinavian Snus. Ironically, it will also dramatically increase crime and smuggling by creating a huge black market .....for legal products.
SnusCENTRAL.org through Govtrack.us provides continuous real-time coverage of the PACT Act. Wake up, Snus users (and other tobacco users except for cigar smokers who are exempt from PACT). We don't want 2009 to be the last Christmas we can order enjoy REAL imported Snus at affordable prices with an enormous selection to chose from. If the dollar was worth more than toilet paper around the world, the prices would even be lower as in the past. Go to SnusCentral.com, our Internet Snus Store....while you still can.
Under PACT, Homeland Security would consider me,
LARRY WATERS
Evil Snus Lord
Reporting For the SnusCENTRAL.org Snus Cartel
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chadizzy1 makes this comment
Saturday, 31 October 2009
chadizzy1 makes this comment
Saturday, 31 October 2009
Larry Waters makes this comment
Saturday, 31 October 2009
It means the Judiciary Committee is voting on it Nov 5. If it passes, I believe that's it on committees so it would go to the full Senate for debate and vote. Assuming it passes, which is a pretty good bet, then it would go to a House and Senate Conference Committee to reconcile any differences.
Since both the House and Senate version are almost identical, shouldn't be any problem there. Might not even need to go to the Conference Committee unless a Senator tacks something on during the Senate floor debate.
Once both versions are reconciled they get a quick vote in the House and Senate; both of whom will vote overwhelming for the bill, it will be sent to President Obama who will sign it without reading it like he did with Kennedy/Waxman, and it becomes law.
When it takes affect, how it takes affect, how long for the bureaucrats to right the actual play book for the industry....who knows.
This is a very bad bill however it shakes out. Ultimately, you'll end up paying the State and Federal taxes you don't pay on imported snus now so the prices will skyrocket regardless of what the dollar does.
In the short-term, they could simply ban internet tobacco sales until they figure it out...except for cigars, of course, which are exempt from PACT and were exempted from FDA control as well.
You will be able to get General at the local store you mentioned, but don't count on all the other Swedish Match brands or even the rest of the General line. Not enough users in the US to support that right now.
Having a US warehouse won't help either: PACT affects ALL Internet tobacco sales; foreign or domestic. The prime motivation behind the Bill was to shut down Indian Reservation mail-order sales.
There will be a new black-market and ways around it I'm sure: look at what happened during Prohibition. Under PACT though, Homeland Security would consider anyone engaging in that; either buying or selling, will be classified as a Terrorist.
I forget...is this still the United States of America we are living in?
Larry
Soon to be Evil Snus Lord
Ozzie makes this comment
Sunday, 01 November 2009
Viking7 makes this comment
Monday, 02 November 2009
Andrew Romeo makes this comment
Monday, 02 November 2009
This is not the end of the world. Asking Americans to pay excise tax on tobacco products is not a new thing. It's when the excise taxes become excessive, and become slated for pie-in-the-sky social programs, that one has to worry.
Also, cigarette smuggling DOES finance terrorist groups. When I was in Poland, Customs in Gdansk would regularly search ships from the Middle East and find primarily Chinese-made fakes on their way to the UK. I met with UK Customs officials in Warsaw who were quite serious about the issue. NO politics whatsoever.
Nothing to do with snus, however. Washington is blurring the issue.
seft29 makes this comment
Tuesday, 03 November 2009
Larry Waters makes this comment
Tuesday, 03 November 2009
The reason PACT - Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking was introduced was because the excise taxes on cigarettes have become so excessive, nicotine-addicted smokers couldn't afford them...and so enter the Indian Reservations, Grey goods cigarettes, and smuggling to fill the void.
The problem with politicians is that they see everything as a zero-sum game. NY lost a billion dollars in cigarette tax revenue last year because the taxes were so high.
American Solution: Lower the taxes so that it won't be worth it for New Yorkers to drive to the reservations or order over the Internet.
Washington "Solution": Keep raising the taxes, but make illegal any method of obtaining cigarettes which goes around the tax collection system.
The Washington Solution creates the black market, the illegal smuggling by criminal and terrorist groups, turns millions of Americans into criminals, and creates the "need" for billions of dollars in funding to support enforcement.
As I've said before, Washington should have banned cigarettes in 1964 when the Surgeon General's report came out. By lacking the moral courage and sucking up the $250BB Tobacco Settlement and tobacco taxes instead, Washington DC and the State governments have lost all credibility on the issue.
The fact that they would now try everything they can to restrict REAL Reduced Harm products like Swedish Snus...it makes me sick. They bow at the alter of Big American Tobacco and Big Pharma...and Big Tax Money.
Rep. Weiner used as an example in PACT last year that Hezbollah made One Million Dollars by smuggling cigarettes.
PACT is going to cost; in real and lost revenue terms, Billions of dollars. It also will make overtaxed/broke tobacco consumers into criminals.
Most outrageous is that it makes ME an Evil Snus Lord! Has the entire country gone mad???????
Larry
PS....this reminds me of the old days on The Unloading Zone, Andy!
Unknown Snuser makes this comment
Saturday, 07 November 2009
Wait for delivery.
Problem solved.
Larry Waters makes this comment
Sunday, 08 November 2009
1. Mail check or Euro Money order to Sweden.
2. Find Swedish e-snus store willing to send a package of snus to the USA without a tax stamp or age verification receipt.
3. FDA monitors tobacco internet sites as do anti-tobacco groups. Someone mentions in a post you can get Swedish Snus from here.
4. Since this is a Homeland Security bill, the NSA will probably be monitoring traffic from the US to Swedish Snus sites.
5. Swedish e-snus dealer charged with smuggling. All snus manufacturers cease doing business with said e-snus store to protect themselves.
6. Since you ordered the snus and paid for the snus to be illegally shipped into the USA, you too could and probably will be charged with smuggling.
Problem back.