The federal government raised its excise tax on cigarettes by $6.17 a carton on April 1, but some manufacturers passed that price increase on to retailers a month earlier. In March, when Act 180 of 2009 went into effect raising the tax on cigarettes, the state Tobacco Control Board heard reports about people buying 20 cartons at a time in the southwest corner of Missouri to take back to Arkansas.īut Redding said that may have been a rush to stock up before new price increases kicked in. Marlboro cigarettes, the nation's most popular brand, were selling for $53.53 per carton, with sales tax included, in Rogers on Wednesday. Premium cigarette brands now sell for about $50 a carton at many Arkansas stores. Eight cities in Arkansas, including Bella Vista, have cigarette tax rates only 3 percent higher than Missouri's - or $2 per carton - because they border that state. In Arkansas, the total state tax is $11.50 per carton, theoretically making a 10-pack carton of cigarettes about $10 cheaper in Missouri. Missouri has the second-lowest cigarette tax in the country, at $1.70 per carton. Possession of nine cartons is a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. In Arkansas, possession of more than 11 packs of cigarettes without Arkansas taxstamps qualifies as a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail. In particular, they were looking for Arkansas retailers who buy cigarettes in Missouri and take them across the state line to sell in Arkansas stores. The agents were looking for Arkansans who were buying several cartons of cigarettes in Missouri to bring back to their home state. "I don't think we've got much bootlegging going on," Redding replied, referring to the transportation of untaxed cigarettes. "I haven't seen much tobacco come out at all." "I've not seen anything that looked anywhere close to a misdemeanor or felony," Bill Holohan told Glenn Redding on Tuesday as the two Arkansas enforcement agents talked in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart Supercenter. Arkansas Tobacco Control agents have periodically checked retail stores across the Missouri state line from Bella Vista since March 1, when Arkansas raised its cigarette tax by $5.60 per carton, but so far they've seen no smuggling of cigarettes.
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