Convenience Stores Applaud Passage of PACT Act

ALBANY, NY (03/18/2010)(readMedia)-- The New York Association of Convenience Stores today applauded New York's congressional delegation for helping pass legislation barring the U.S. Postal Service from delivering cigarettes ordered over the Internet.

Passed March 9 by the Senate and yesterday by the House, the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act will forbid the Postal Service from delivering cigarettes directly to consumers once President Obama signs it.

"Law-abiding mom-and-pop retailers are especially grateful to Congressman Anthony Weiner of New York, the House sponsor, and Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York for their courageous leadership on this issue of fairness and child health protection," said NYACS President James Calvin.

"Cigarettes are a legal product, and smokers are going to continue to buy them," he pointed out. "Congress made a sensible choice to have them sold in a controlled environment where there is verifiable compliance with tax, age verification and other laws designed to protect public health."

Calvin said the Seneca Indian Nation's claim that the PACT Act will cost 1,000 jobs in their Internet tobacco business assumes that all their customers will immediately stop buying cigarettes altogether, when in reality there will be a shift in sales and jobs back to licensed, regulated retail outlets. "It's ludicrous for anyone to claim that helping smokers circumvent tax and age verification laws is a form of economic development," he said.

He cited a study conducted by economist Brian O'Connor PhD showing that if cigarette tax collection laws were being enforced fully and fairly in New York State, there would actually be a net increase of more than 1,300 jobs and $35 million in higher earnings in the retail cigarette market (www.nyacs.org/documents/OConnorjobsstudy2004.pdf).

"Now that Congress has acted," Calvin added, "the next step is for the Paterson administration to proceed with collecting state taxes on cigarettes sold by Native American-run stores to non-Indian customers." He noted that a state law requiring such collection was enacted four years ago this month but has yet to be enforced. Consequently, economist O'Connor has determined that the state is losing $1 billion a year in tax revenue (www.nyacs.org/documents/09OConnortaxstudyupdate.pdf).