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Lawmakers Crack Down on Cigarette Smuggling

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A Republican state senator is trying desperately to crack down on cigarette trafficking from Virginia to the Northeast, which evidence suggests is so profitable that it’s funding terrorist organizations and fuels organized crime. But several members of his own caucus in the House are standing in the way of one bill that’s passed the Senate. 

Senator Bryce Reeves’ bill would require cigarette retailers to acquire a license, since many smugglers pose as retailers to buy wholesale.  It would also transfer the regulating authority from the Tax Department to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board:

"The Department of Taxation spoke about their abilities to send auditors out into the field, and the next thing you know they're dealing with a criminal element. Well, auditors aren't necessarily----they're armed with calculators, not weapons and the problem is a lot bigger in scope than I think a lot of my colleagues understood." 

A House subcommittee has recommended defeating that measure.  But Reeves’ second bill would lower the felony threshold for distribution from 500 cartons to 200 cartons. That bill has passed both houses in different forms and will go to a conference committee.

Tommie McNeil is a State Capitol reporter who has been covering Virginia and Virginia politics for more than a decade. He originally hails from Maryland, and also doubles as the evening anchor for 1140 WRVA in Richmond.
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