TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – After an administrative law judge ruled against the state in February, a Senate panel Tuesday approved a bill that would make clear a type of rolling paper known as a "blunt wrap" should be subject to tobacco taxes.
Blunt wraps can be used as cigar wrappers, and tobacco is a raw material used in manufacturing the wraps.
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Judge John Van Laningham in February ruled against the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation in a dispute about whether distributor Brandy's Products, Inc., should be required to pay tobacco taxes on the wraps.
But Van Laningham found that the blunt wraps don't fall under the legal definition of tobacco products that should be taxed, writing, in part, that a "blunt wrap is no more loose tobacco than a piece of writing paper is loose wood."
But the Senate Finance and Tax Committee on Tuesday unanimously approved a bill (SPB 7074) that deals with tobacco-tax issues, including adding wraps to the legal definition of tobacco products.