David Schwartz, Director of NYAWD Talking About "The Smoke Out Act". This legislation aims to shut down illegal shops that sell untaxed cigarettes.

0:03
well either We're a nation of laws or
0:06
we're not a nation of laws and I have to
0:08
thank uh assemblywomen Raj Kumar Senator
0:11
Comer for finally taking action every
0:15
single day we New York State uh every
0:19
year is losing $2.4 billion dollar with
0:23
a fee due to Illegal untaxed cigarettes
0:27
illegal Vapor Products and of course
0:30
illegal cannabis and it's got to stop
0:32
now the city of New York is losing
0:35
hundreds of millions of dollars we've
0:37
had thousands of small convenience
0:39
stores bodegas new stands shutting down
0:43
because of this proliferating illegal
0:46
Market thousands of illegal shops
0:49
opening up on our streets and and you
0:52
know for the kids that are here not only
0:54
is this a Scourge on society but $2
0:57
billion dollar a year of being taken
1:00
away from you they're taken being taken
1:02
away from police and fire and everything
1:04
else the city and state has to pay for
1:07
every single year so finally we're going
1:10
to be a nation of laws and it's because
1:11
of your hard work and your hard work
1:14
that we're going to get this in the
1:15
budget get it signed and get this passed
1:18
and get rid of these stores they are
1:21
cheating the taxpayers of much needed
1:23
Revenue the city and state of New York
1:26
deserves better our children deserve
1:29
better and if you're going to buy
1:31
cigarettes they should be taxed in a
1:34
legal brick and mortar store in the city
1:36
of New York and also you know we've lost
1:40
thousands of licenses we have to get
1:43
those licenses back because those are
1:45
the legal Market we need to bring
1:48
everything to the legal market right now
1:50
as we speak there are trucks traveling
1:54
up the I95 Corridor right now as we
1:57
speak from North Carolina from Virginia
2:00
from Georgia bringing up untaxed illegal
2:04
cigarettes and now they have a great
2:06
place to bring it right these thousands
2:08
of illegal markets that have opened up
2:11
so I'm going to ask the our leaders to
2:14
not forget about the illegal tobacco
2:16
problem these aren't just illegal stores
2:19
these are criminal Enterprises they they
2:22
are not only selling illegal cannabis
2:24
but the cigarettes that they're selling
2:26
robbing us of much needed revenue and
2:29
the flavored Vapes the illegal flavored
2:32
Vapes they're selling uh we have to stop
2:34
it now thank you so much for what you're
2:36
doing we're finally taking action thank
2:39
you thank you