The state attorney general has filed a federal lawsuit against a DeWitt business, accusing it of evading cigarette taxes while allowing customers to roll their own cigarettes onsite.
The attorney general’s office filed suit against Tobacco House C.C.W., Inc. of 4465 E. Genesee St. in DeWitt. The business provided customers with loose tobacco, tubes of cigarette paper, and access to machinery to instantly produce assembled cigarettes, according to a news release from the attorney general’s office.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York, alleges Tobacco House violated New York tax law by selling untaxed cigarettes. The business also violated the Federal Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act and the New York State Cigarette Marketing Standards Act, according to the lawsuit.
Tobacco House advertised cigarettes at $28.99 per carton and $25.99 per carton — prices that fall below the amount of sales tax placed on a carton of cigarettes, the attorney general’s office said. The state Department of Taxation and Finance website lists cigarette taxes at $4.35 per package of 20, meaning the tax bill on a carton of 200 cigarettes would be $43.50.
“Rather than playing by the rules, this store and others like it are cheating the state out of millions of dollars per year in legitimate tax revenue and endangering public health and safety while they’re doing it,” Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in the news release. “Additionally, because cigarettes are the number-one cause of deaths by fire in this country, New York state has long required that all cigarettes sold in the state be fire-safe; these cigarettes are not.”
Attempts to reach Tobacco House were unsuccessful. A telephone number listed for the business has been disconnected.
This is not the first suit the attorney general has filed against a roll-your-own cigarette vendor. Earlier this week, the attorney general and New York City filed a joint lawsuit levying similar charges against a business in Brooklyn and one on Staten Island.
Contact Seltzer at rseltzer@cnybj.com