Efforts by the state Department of Revenue to collect tobacco taxes from shops offering the use of cigarette rolling machines face a roadblock in court. A Dane County judge on Friday issued an order prohibiting the state from collecting higher taxes from the stores while a legal challenge from several of the businesses is pending. [Read more...]
Legal action over roll your own smokes
October 6, 2011 By
“Roll your own” smoke shops in Wisconsin are taking the state to court. Several of the retailers have filed a lawsuit in Dane County Court, challenging a decision by the state Department of Revenue requiring the businesses to get state permits and charge Wisconsin’s hefty cigarette taxes.
Kurt Kruchten owns a business called “Smokes for Less” in Slinger, northwest of Milwaukee. He says the agency is wrong in its claim that the outlets are manufacturing cigarettes and tobacco products. Kruchten says it’s the customers who make the smokes and they just use a machine that’s owned by the store. [Read more...]
Amendment could ease mergers
September 28, 2011 By
A proposed constitutional amendment could make it easier for Wisconsin school districts and local governments to merge, and enjoy greater efficiencies. One thing standing in the way now is the state’s uniformity clause and the fact that different units of government have different tax levy rates. “They’re both on board, but they have a situation where because of the different levels of equalized values . . . as well as the actual tax rates themselves, the merger itself becomes impossible,” said Milwaukee Democrat, Representative Josh Zepnick, who cited several instances of proposed mergers that foundered on the rocks of differing tax rates. [Read more...]
State goes after “roll your own” retailers
September 23, 2011 By
The state is putting “roll your own” cigarette retailers on notice. Letters were sent out Friday to businesses offering the use of the sophisticated machines, which are capable of producing a carton of cigarettes in just a few minutes, notifying them that they are violating state laws on the collection of tobacco taxes.
Customers put loose tobacco in the machines, which then use cartridges to produce cigarettes. The retailers argue they are not subject to the same taxes that are applied to a pack bought at the store because it’s the customer making the cigarettes. The perceived loophole results in prices that don’t include the $2.52 per pack other retailers are forced to collect. [Read more...]
Another drop in property values
August 16, 2011 By
Equalized property values in Wisconsin dipped for a third year in a row in 2010. New figures released by the state Department of Revenue says Wisconsin homes, businesses and other properties had a value of $487 billion last year, down about 1.8-percent from 2009. DOR spokeswoman Stephanie Marquis says the numbers largely reflect national averages and are a sign that the market in Wisconsin is relatively stable right now. [Read more...]
