Politics & Government

Knodl Urges Revenue Department to Reconsider "Roll Your Own" Regs

Assemblyman says the Department of Revenue's actions went overboard, and are hurting small businesses.

Last week, the Department of Revenue the $30,000 cigarette rolling machines customers rent at his business weren’t in compliance with state law.

Now, his business is essentially shut down as his machines sit idle. Like roughly 80 other “Roll Your Own” business owners around the state, Krueger will now need to apply for proper cigarette manufacturers permits, or remove the jukebox-sized machines from his business.

But on Wednesday Rep. Dan Knodl (R-Germantown) made it clear that he sides with business owners like Krueger, and called the DOR’s actions an overstep.

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“The DOR went overboard here.  They’ve set the power of the state government on a handful of small micro-businesses who are selling a legal product,” said Knodl in a news release.  “These are decent, entrepreneurial, tax-paying people who have taken risks to invest their money and create a few jobs in hopes of scratching out a living.  Like people do every day in America, they fulfilled a demand in the marketplace – but now they’re getting punished by their government for it.  I am asking the DOR to reconsider their action.”

Knodl’s position on the action taken by the DOR contrasts with fellow Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s. According to a JSOnline report, Walker said the DOR is simply applying the law uniformly to all bsuinesses, and is ensuring certainty exists in the industry.

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At the Ciggy Shack, Krueger sells the filters, papers, and loose tobacco needed to create a cigarette. Rather than rolling their cigarettes one-by-one and by hand, they can rent machines that will quickly do it for them. One of Krueger’s machines can produce roughly 25 cigarettes a minute. He said a typical large cigarette manufacturer uses machines that can roll up to 20,000 in the same timeframe.

Because of the rate and quantity of cigarettes produced by the machines, the DOR is considering “Roll Your Own” business owners cigarette manufacturers. During an interview with Patch.com, Krueger said the cigarette rolling machines are no different than whole-bean coffee grinders in grocery stores.

Krueger emphasized that he was simply a business owner in a free enterprise system that is servicing a need in a niche market. Knodl agreed with Krueger, and said the the state should be focusing elsewhere.

“Further, how can we afford to be spending taxpayer resources to shut down small businesses?  Let’s instead focus our resources on providing small businesses with the tax and regulatory reform tools they need to sustain profitability in Wisconsin,” Knodl said.


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