The battle is joined: with federal regulation of Internet sales stalled, states began their own enforcement crusade.(INTERNET SALES)

Tobacco Retailer, December, 2004

If the "he said, she said" atmosphere that surrounds the question of just how much the Internet sale of cigarettes is affecting brick-and-mortar sales and the ability of governing bodies to collect the proper excise taxes were the plot for a movie, this year's events might have the following title: "Internet Wars. The States Strike Back."

While both the House of Representatives (Internet Tobacco Sales Enforcement Act) and the Senate (Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act), in the past 12 months, have passed measures designed to level the playing field and ensure that remote merchants will no longer have a tax advantage over traditional retailers, neither has been passed into law.

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In addition, the effort to defeat...