How You Can Help Hold Big Tobacco Accountable
Nearly 20 years ago, a U.S. Federal District judge found that the major cigarette manufacturers violated civil racketeering laws for deliberately defrauding the public.
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“Fierce” Big Tobacco lobbyists stopped the smoking tax in Montana
May 23, 2017
When the Montana Senate voted this spring for what would have been the state’s first tobacco tax increase in 12 years, Big Tobacco lobbyists swarmed the Capitol in Helena…Within a week the bill was dead, its demise a textbook example of how a well-financed industry can torpedo legislation. Tobacco and other “sin taxes” perennially surface in many legislative sessions, and cigarette makers are used to fighting back. But Montana lawmakers and lobbyists say the opposition this year was particularly fierce. “Montana is considered Marlboro Country,” said Kristin Page Nei, a lobbyist for the American Cancer Society that supported the tax. Tobacco’s supporters “know that if a red state like Montana can pass a tax, that other states will follow suit.” More... http://apne.ws/2q5epvG
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