Tobacco Grain Company Sin Tax to be Cut in Half

By Nathan Kerns, Staff Writer
6/20/2008

The Tobacco Grain Company and the Tobacco Farmers of Van Buren city have received a 50% reduction on the preexisting sin tax on tobacco products after threatening to leave Boys State if their demands for lower taxes were not met. If the Tobacco Grain Company were to relocate, unemployment in the city of Van Buren would skyrocket to 12% from the current 3.5%.

Additionally, Governor Browning and Attorney General Martin have agreed to waive a standing $40 million fine levied against the company that resulted from a court case three years ago. Governor Browning has also agreed to veto the recently-proposed legislature that would increase the state smoking age from 18 to 21 (if it survives Congress). The Browning Administration’s appeasement of the Tobacco Grain Company is one of several recent drastic economic measures taken to remedy the State’s ailing employment rates, including extensive pardoning of the environmentally-unfriendly Brutt Shipping Company in Monroe.

• A Call for Educational Reform, Part Two
• Tobacco Grain Company Sin Tax to be Cut in Half
• A Call for Educational Reform, Part Three

• All state stories