News Article: Marlboro's owners dominate the cigarette market Link: https://coloradosun.com/2020/08/13/colorado-tobacco-tax-hike-1427/ Description: Cigarette company lobbies for raising the minimum price of cigarettes. Read an excerpt from this article and then answer the questions below: "The maker of Marlboro cigarettes spent more than $16 million to block a tobacco tax increase in Colorado four years ago. Now it could benefit from the passage of a question on the November ballot that would dramatically increase the cost of cigarettes- a question that the company helped write. The company, Altria, was part of the negotiations that led to 11th-hour legislation - House Bill 1427 - that placed the question on the 2020 ballot. If passed, it will raise taxes on nicotine products across the board over the next several years, including more than tripling the taxes on a pack of cigarettes. The question also would require retailers in Colorado to sell cigarettes for a minimum of $7 a pack, or $70 a carton, starting in January. Then, in 2024, that price-floor mandate rises to $7.50 a pack and $75 a carton. The discount tobacco company Liggett Group, which makes the cigarette brands Pyramid and Grand Prix, is slated to contend the change will give Altria a major sales advantage and wipe away its market share." 1. Liggett, the discount tobacco company, claims that the minimum price-floor mandate of $7 will give Altria, maker of Marlboro, "a major sales advantage." What would a price floor do? 2. What can you say about the two different cigarette brands based on how they reacted to a possible minimum price floor ballot initiative. Note- you do not need knowledge of cigarette brands to answer this question! Focus on the laws of supply and demand, substitutes/complements, inferior/luxury goods, and elastic/inelastic demand in your