ALBANY, N.Y. -- The New York state convenience store industry applauded gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo's position denouncing proposals for new taxes in the next state budget, said the New York Association of Convenience Stores (NYACS).
Cuomo was quoted in The Syracuse Post Standard as saying he opposes any new taxes, including higher tobacco taxes and a new tax on sugar-sweetened beverages now under consideration, as a means of closing the state's budget deficit.
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"New York's exorbitant taxes on tobacco, combined with its failure to equally enforce their collection, have already chased half of our cigarette customers away to unlicensed, unregulated, untaxed outlets," said NYACS president James Calvin. "A higher tax rate would just make cigarette tax evasion even more prevalent."
"The new beverage tax," he added, "would give our customers an added reason to shift their purchases to tax-free venues. The resulting drop in customer count would further erode our sales of tobacco, beverages, lottery and other products, resulting in fewer convenience store jobs and less revenue for the state and localities."
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