[ad_1]
Victorian companies could soon be beaten up to $ 1500 a year to sell tobacco, 9News can reveal.
In the last commitment to stop the Turf War, each store that wishes to sell Smokes will soon need a license, and Mary-Anne Thomas Health Minister says that the work is on the way to developing them.
The new licenses will not be cheap, and the government proposes the application and annual renewal rates of between $ 1100 and $ 1490 per store, and the industry is not impressed.
“We do not support the Government with its rank of rates proposed,” said the executive president of the Australian Association of the Convenience Stores Theo Foukkare to 9News.
“We would suggest around $ 500, which is where it is in Queensland.”
All other states and territory already have a license scheme, with victory the last and the most expensive to create one.
Only Tasmania is approaching, where it costs $ 1340 for a tobacco license, followed by NSW, where it costs $ 1100.
Other states and territories are much cheaper, including law ($ 638), Queensland ($ 474), South Australia ($ 340), Western Australia ($ 278) and northern territory ($ 282).
“The cost of doing business in the last three years has exploded and the last thing we need is a very high license rate,” Foukkare said.
“My concern about rates is that they are very high,” said Consumer Affairs Minister Tim McCurdy.
“People will pay the cost, Victorians will pay the cost.”
There are also concerns that high license rates can cause a larger crisis by encouraging retailers to operate in the black market, said Foukkare.
Companies have obtained about a month to present their case at a lower price before the new rates are established in the May budget.
The license scheme will begin on July 1, although no one will verify them until the middle of next year.
“They have been slow joining this, we approve the legislation last year,” said McCurdy. “You have to come a little faster than that.”
[ad_2]
Source link
