Some Massachusetts Lawmakers Want a Statewide-First 'Generational Tobacco Ban'
Source: Time/AP
November 29, 2024 2:30 AM EST
BOSTON A handful of Massachusetts lawmakers are hoping to persuade their colleagues to support a proposal that would make the state the first to adopt a ban meant to eliminate the use of tobacco products over time. Other locations have weighed similar generational tobacco bans, which phase out the use of tobacco products based not just on a persons age but on birth year.
Under a Massachusetts law signed in 2018, the age to buy any tobacco productincluding cigarettes, cigars and e-cigaretteswas raised to 21. Massachusetts also has banned the sale of all flavored tobacco products in an effort to reduce youth interest in nicotine.
The new proposal, which lawmakers plan to file next year, would expand the effort to curb smoking by gradually ending all sales of nicotine and tobacco products. If the bill is approved, young people not old enough to legally purchase nicotine and tobacco would never be lawfully able to purchase them in Massachusetts, thereby creating no more new users.
It would not apply to marijuana, and the cutoff date would be adjusted when passed to ensure everyone age 21 and above at that time would not be affected.
Read more: https://time.com/7199003/massachusetts-generational-tobacco-ban-smoking-age-prohibition-statewide-first-proposal/
jimfields33
(19,163 posts)Connecticut or New Hampshire to buy. Bans were tried with alcohol and failed.
Dennis Donovan
(26,376 posts)If NY were to enact a similar law to MA's, Cayuga Nation could continue to sell cigarettes.
Mosby
(17,531 posts)Are engaged in illegal smuggling.
https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/cigarette-taxes-cigarette-smuggling-2023/
Maybe the solution is that everyone who sells tobacco pays the taxes, including NA tribes.
eggplant
(3,990 posts)(IANAL...)
Purchases by NYS residents of items from out of state are subject to a use tax (to compensate the state for not being able to collect sales tax). So if you buy something (say) mail-order and the seller doesn't collect NYS sales tax on your behalf, you are technically required to declare it on your NYS income tax filing, and pay the use tax then. Of course, nobody does this.
I think it can be argued that buying a "personal quantity" (say a few cartons) and bringing them home wouldn't count as smuggling, but would require either:
1. The tribe pays the tax on sales to non-natives in advance. This is done by the wholesalers who sell to the tribe pay the tax to the state, and the tribe then pays the tax on quantities over the amount expected to be sold to natives (with "coupons" for the allowed amount). At that point, the taxes have been paid (or equivalent). It would be up to the retailer to collect (or eat) the taxes. I believe this is the current rule, but with lots of pending lawsuits.
2. The tribe does not pay the tax in advance, and does not collect it either. Non-natives would then be subject to use tax when they get home.
For #2, if I drive to a state without sales tax and load up on cheap cigarettes and then drive home, I'm technically subject to paying NYS use tax on it. Personal use limits would determine whether I was smuggling for resale. So everyone does this, and I can't imagine that anyone gets busted for skipping the tax. But it certainly isn't illegal to buy them out of state and then carry them into the state, as long as you eventually settle up.
I think.
generalbetrayus
(653 posts)republianmushroom
(17,822 posts)hunter
(38,982 posts)Laws like this can't be implemented from the top down, the social pressure has to come first.
When the majority of people decide that smoking in restaurants or airplanes is disgusting, that's when you can pass laws against smoking in restaurants or on airplanes.
Asa13
(26 posts)If people want to do so they'll find ways to do so. It's why prohibition didn't work it's why the war on drugs is a failure. You just make innocent people criminals which is ridiculous. I'm a firm believer in a person's body is there to do with as they please and nobody should be able to tell them they can't.