The Show to Attend
Whether you operate convenience stores, grocery stores, gasoline service stations, liquor stores, or tobacco stores, plan to attend the 2007 Tobacco Plus Expo Tobacco, which will be held on Thursday and Friday, April 26-27, 2007 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The Tobacco Plus Expo will offer education seminars to tobacco retailers of all kinds and showcase hundreds of exhibitor displays of tobacco products, tobacco accessories, and more non-tobacco products as well. If you want to learn how to operate your retail business better and see all of the latest tobacco products, then sign up to attend this two-day trade show event.
The seminars will include a State of the Industry keynote address by Nik Modi of UBS Investment Research. The topics to be covered by Modi include key legislation such as FDA regulation of the tobacco industry and excise taxes plus a look at the growth of the smokeless tobacco segment. In addition, Lou Maiellano of TAZ Marketing and Consulting Group will speak about the past, present, and future of tobacco retailing including a look at innovative technology and new products.
Another seminar will also be devoted to why retailers should enter the roll-your-own/make-your-own product category or expand the line because of potential sales growth. The seminar will be presented by Darren Schwartz, the owner of Smokers Choice stores in New York and Pennsylvania, and by Mickey Falconburg of Smoker Friendly stores.
Besides the informative seminars, attendees will have two days to visit the hundreds of exhibit booths at the trade show. There will be a significant number of manufacturers and suppliers displaying their products and new offerings. For more information about registering to attend the trade show, visit www.tobacco-plusexpo.com.
NATO Awards Dinner
Before the trade show officially opens on Thursday, April 26, NATO will host its annual awards dinner on the evening of Wednesday, April 25, at the Hilton Hotel ballroom. This industry event is an opportunity for all NATO members to socialize during a cocktail reception and then enjoy a Western barbecue buffet dinner. The guests will be updated on NATO’s legislative activities and the association will also present the annual Pinnacle Awards to a manufacturer and retailer that have demonstrated extraordinary support of NATO and shown the highest degree of commitment and dedication to assisting NATO on tobacco legislative issues.
The NATO Annual Awards Dinner will be by invitation only. If you are already a NATO member, look for your invitation in the mail in mid-March.
Tax Increases
Only two months into the 2007 state legislative year NATO is already working to help its members oppose cigarette and/or OTP tax increases in as many as 14 states across the country. The significance of these proposed tax increases is not so much in the number of states considering yet another tax hike, but rather, the amount of the increases.
Many of these states are proposing to raise cigarette taxes by $1 per pack or higher while at the same time more than double the current OTP tax rates. The states and the amount of the proposed tax hikes include: California ($1.90/pack), Illinois ($.50/pack), Indiana ($.25/pack), Iowa ($1/pack and raising OTP from 22 percent to 55 percent), Maine ($1/pack), Massachusetts ($1/pack), Minnesota ($1/pack and raising OTP from 70 percent to 143 percent), Mississippi ($1/pack and raising OTP from 15 percent to 37 percent), New Hampshire ($.50/pack), Oregon ($.845/pack), South Carolina ($.60/pack), Tennessee ($.80/pack), Virginia ($.75/pack), and West Virginia ($1/pack).
There seems to be no end to the willingness of state legislators to consider cigarette and tobacco taxes as a source of revenue to fund government programs unrelated to tobacco. That is why NATO is working to publicize the unfairness of these tax increases through commentary letters-to-the-editor in major newspapers published in the states that are considering raising cigarette and tobacco taxes.
NATO is also working with the The Heartland Institute, a public policy think tank, to distribute the Institute’s book titled Please Don’t Poop on My Salad. The book is a series of factual and forthright essays responding to the unscientific evidence and misrepresented facts that the anti-tobacco groups use to further their prohibitionist agenda. Retailers, wholesalers, and adults who use tobacco products need to read this 70-page collection of essays so they understand how the anti-tobacco advocates distort the facts. The book should convince readers to become politically active and speak out for the right to purchase and enjoy a legal product. For a complimentary copy of the book, please e-mail NATO at info@natocentral.org.
Smoking Bans
Just like the numerous cigarette and tobacco tax increase bills, many states are also debating smoking restrictions. After voters in Nevada and Ohio passed ballot questions to enact statewide smoking restrictions this past November, the Associated Press reported in January that anti-tobacco advocates have set a new goal of having smoking restrictions in place nationwide within just several years.
During the first two months of 2007, statewide smoking restriction bills that would take away the right of adults to enjoy tobacco products in many privately owned business such as bars and restaurants are being considered in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming.
Besides helping NATO retail members organize their customers to call their legislators to oppose these smoking restrictions, NATO is also submitting commentary letters-to-the-editor in many of these states to educate the public and lawmakers about the need to protect the freedom and liberty to purchase and use a legal product.
Philadelphia Ban
On January 23, 2007, the Philadelphia mayor signed an ordinance into law that banned the sale of any cigarette, cigar, or other tobacco product in a package of less than three, cigarette and cigar rolling papers and any flavored cigarette or flavored cigar. A lawsuit has been filed against the City of Philadelphia seeking an injunction to prevent the enforcement of the Philadelphia restrictions on the sale of cigarettes, cigars, blunt wraps, and cigarette wrapping paper. On February 1, the judge in the case issued a consent order suspending the ordinance from taking effect and prohibiting enforcement of the ordinance for 45 days. The Black Cat Cigar Company, a NATO retail member, along with NATO members Altadis, U.S.A., John Middleton, Inc., and Swisher International, are all plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
Join NATO
If you want help to protect your business, you need to belong to NATO. To join, visit the NATO website at www.natocentral.org and complete and send in the membership application form that you will find under the “Join NATO” button. Membership is open to tobacco outlets, convenience stores, gasoline service stations, liquor stores, grocery stores, wholesale distributors, and manufacturers. To learn more about NATO, contact us at our toll free number, 1-866-869-8888, and visit the association’s Web site at www.natocentral.org. •