The Committee to Repeal the Sales Tax on Alcohol announces that the signature gathering campaign garnered nearly 16,000 certified voter signatures. Slightly more than 11,000 were necessary in order to get officially placed on the ballot. The alcohol sales tax repeal question has been placed as Question 1 on the official November ballot.

A follow-up poll has just been completed, and focus groups are being conducted. The Committee, along with a Retailer Steering Committee made up of retailers from around the state, will be reviewing the poll and focus group results and subsequently selecting a professional political strategy firm to manage the campaign. Retailer meetings will soon be scheduled, including one at the close of the Trade Show in Marlboro on October 6th. A volunteer member from the steering committee will be contacting you soon to review all of the ways you can help us succeed in November. Please welcome them when they call, and watch for further information via email and snail mail.

An important part of any political ballot question is the funding mechanism. To find out how you can donate to "The Campaign to Repeal the Sales Tax on Alcohol", please click here…

The Federal Drug Administration has been conducting seminars around the country in an effort to educate retailers about the newly revised, and beefed-up, regulations regarding the sale of tobacco products. There was one such seminar held in Boston recently. Here, in a nutshell, is what we have learned.

-It is a violation for a clerk failing to check the ID of a person under the age of 27, even if that person has been carded before. If a clerk is caught failing to make the ID check during a tobacco compliance check, the business and the clerk are subject to fines beginning at $250 and going as high as $10,000 (pending the number of violations). Some reduced fines are available for clerks and businesses that have undergone training at a certified tobacco sales training seminar.

-It is a violation to sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18 years. If a person under 18 is sold tobacco, it is likely that no ID check took place. Under these conditions, the clerk and the business are now subject to two fines – a sale to an underage person and failure to ID someone under 27 years old.

For a complete list of the regulations, please visit http://www.fda.gov/breakthechain .

Congress has recently signed HR4173, The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. This is a voluminous piece of legislation, and part of contains some credit/debit card reform that is designed to help small businesses. Keep in mind that Congress has 9 months to a year to make rules to help enforce the new law. Items that seem to help retailers…

-credit card companies are prohibited from prohibiting businesses to offer discounts for payments made by cash, checks or credit cards. However, discounts must not differentiate between card issuers and card networks.

-Businesses are permitted to set minimum transaction amounts of up to $10 for credit card use. The Federal Reserve has the right to review this amount and increase it if it deems it necessary.

For more information on your credit card responsibilities, please check with your card processor about HR4173.