July 6, 2015 NACS Online Beginning this month, a 16% tax will apply to all pre-packaged and ready-made food at c-stores. ​TIJUANA, Mexico – Beginning this month, Mexican consumers will be paying a new, 16% sales tax on pre-packaged and ready-made food sold at convenience stores. The nationwide tax – which includes a broad range of foods such as pizza, hotdogs, sandwiches and burritos – is Mexico’s latest move to rein in high obesity rates. The ready-made food tax is expected to have a disproportionate impact on Mexican residents along the U.S. border, in cities like Tijuana, as the region recently raised its general sales tax from 11% to 16%. Gilberto Leyva Camacho, president of Tijuana’s Chamber of Commerce, told news sources that the new sales tax didn’t go into effect for ready-made food at convenience stores until Wednesday. “The people who are most going to be hurt by this…

JACK BLANCHARD 7 JULY 2015 MIRROR UK Shops will be allowed to stay open 24/7 as Sunday trading laws are relaxed with George Osborne saying, “there’s a growing appetite for shopping on a Sunday” Thousands of jobs will be created across the country as shops are given the nod to stay open all day on Sundays, Treasury sources say. Retailers will be hundreds of millions of pounds a year better off as rules restricting larger stores to just six hours’ Sunday trading are scrapped. George Osborne said the biggest shake-up of trading laws in a generation, to be announced in his emergency Budget tomorrow, will help shops claw back trade lost to online retailers. Decisions on whether to allow all-day trading will be taken locally by councils and elected mayors, he said. The Chancellor added: “It is clear there is still a growing appetite for shopping on a Sunday. The…

July 9, 2015 NACS Online Three out of every four American adults favor increasing the minimum age from 18 to 21, even among smokers. ​NEW YORK – Three out of every four American adults favor increasing the minimum age to purchase tobacco from 18 to 21, according to a study released by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (AJPM). Even self-described smokers largely agreed with the higher minimum age, with 7 of 10 cigarette smokers in favor of raising the minimum age to purchase tobacco products to 21, on par with alcohol sales. Most states require tobacco purchases to be made by someone who is at least 18; in Alabama, Alaska, New Jersey and Utah, the minimum age is 19. Hawaii is the first state to implement an over-21 law, which will go into effect next year, and various municipalities across the nation have passed their own local laws mandating…

July 6, 2015 NACS Online Difficult to make definitive connection between e-cigarette use and decreasing tobacco use, in part because e-cigs not taxed by state. ​ANCHORAGE — Alaska officials say that e-cigarettes may be responsible for last year’s larger-than-normal drop in the state’s tobacco revenue. According to an Associated press report, officials said that tobacco consumption in the state has dipped to its lowest point since 2001 and there is a significant increase in e-cigarette use. However, state officials say that a lack of tax data makes e-cigarette use hard to track and they cannot say conclusively whether e-cigarette products are directly diverting sales from traditional cigarettes. E-cigarettes are not taxable under current Alaska state law, since it may not be clear which e-cigarette products contain tobacco, which a taxed substance, versus other forms of nicotine which are not taxed. While vape shops are listed under the “tobacco” section of…