Additional tobacco tax revenue translates into more money for the state's School Aid Fund. Tobacco wholesalers must begin affixing stamps to individual cigarette packs May 1. By mid-summer, state residents and law enforcement officials should be able to see immediately whether taxes have been paid on any given pack of cigarettes. Roberts reminded all state retailers and vending machine operators that they are prohibited from buying unstamped cigarettes after April 30. By September 1, all cigarette packs sold at retail must bear the stamp.
Retailers comprise Michigan's first line of defense against illegal cigarette smuggling.
Roberts also noted that the new law requires retailers to keep purchase records at each store location beginning May 1. This documentation is very important and will help guard still further against cigarette smuggling. The Department of Treasury has established a toll-free phone number so retailers and consumers can ask questions about the cigarette stamping program and notify authorities of the sale of untaxed cigarettes.