We discussed this today already. I think we are just puffed out on this one. 
Posted on 07/22/2005 2:10:04 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Gov.Jim Doyle ordered the state Department of Revenue late Thursday to end an effort to collect back taxes and penalties from thousands of Wisconsin residents who bought cigarettes over the Internet.
Doyle's action came hours after he said he was troubled by the plan. The department in the last month had sent 1,000 letters ordering taxpayers to compute and pay their delinquent taxes for online cigarette purchases from September 1999 to the present. The letters startled many taxpayers who inundated the department with concerns over how they would pay.
"I'm troubled when the burden of this comes down on the backs of some person some place," the governor told reporters.
Doyle directed the department to stop sending the letters and try to step up regulation of Internet cigarette companies instead. The department estimates the state lost more than $4 million due to unregulated Internet sales of cigarettes in 2004.
State tax collectors recently obtained lists of customers from five separate online cigarette companies with the help of the federal government, said Meredith Helgerson, spokeswoman for the Department of Revenue. In all, the lists contain 6,000 names of Wisconsin customers, she said, declining to name the vendors.
The department had planned to contact all the taxpayers by fall as part of the effort, which could net the state more than $3 million in unpaid taxes and penalties, Helgerson said. So far, the department sent two batches of 500 letters each, one in June and one in July.
Doyle aide Dan Leistikow said taxpayers who have already paid the back taxes would not see refunds since they paid taxes they legitimately owed. He said others who have yet to respond or who have ordered cigarettes online "can rest assured that the department is not going to come after them."
"The focus needs to be on the sellers, not on going after a senior citizen out there who bought a few cigarettes on the Internet," Leistikow said.
A federal law makes it illegal for people to transport cigarette products across state lines unless they are licensed dealers, but online cigarette companies had allowed customers to flout that law. Buying smokes online allows customers to avoid the state's cigarette tax, which is 77 cents per pack, in addition to local sales taxes ranging from 5 percent to 5.6 percent.
In the letters, the Department of Revenue asked customers to voluntarily report their purchases and provided worksheets to figure out their outstanding tax burden. For a smoker who bought one $15 carton online per month for three years, the outstanding taxes and penalties would amount to $420.
The agency applied 18 percent interest for every year a customer did not pay taxes and a $20 late filing fee for each year the purchases were not reported, and warned that failure to respond promptly or accurately would net a penalty of $25 per carton.
Helgerson said allowing people to self-report their purchases was a better approach than other states that are immediately sending taxpayers a bill. She acknowledged that many "curious, concerned, confused" taxpayers were calling the department with inquiries and complaining they could not afford the back taxes.
Doyle called on the Legislature to ban Internet tobacco sales altogether, saying such companies sell smokes to minors in addition to allowing people to avoid taxes. He plans to sign a provision in the state budget Monday to require online cigarette sellers to register with the state.
Brandon Scholz, president of the Wisconsin Grocers Association, said it is only fair that customers who order their cigarettes online pay the same taxes as those who buy tobacco in grocery stores.
"From the state's economic perspective, it's better for the state that they are collecting the tax on this product," he said. "If there's a tax we have to collect it."
** tax, tax, tax, tax **
That's hardly limited to Democrats. Blackbird.
Here's one for the puff list!
I'm so glad you didn't ping me to this one, my FRiend.....I weighed in on the issue earlier..........and now I've taken some pain killers........not a smart time for me to get into the issue........if you know what I mean :)
I know. We discussed this at length today. I didn't know what else to say.
Have a pain free evening, Gabz!
We discussed this today already. I think we are just puffed out on this one.
I don't have it at my fingertips, but recently read where DOJ is pursuing a multi BILLION dollar judgement against Big Tobacco for their "lies" of past. DOJ now being run by REPUBLICANS. FINES against Big Tobacco aren't fines at all to any thinking person, but yet another TAX on smoker's, again brought to you by REPUBLICANS! No, this circle jerk has plenty of participants. It matters not whether they sport a R or a D by their name, they are ALL without honor. Blackbird.
Thanks, my FRiend. The pain meds do take the edge off the pain - but they also put an edge on my mood, so I need to be quite careful about what I say and how I say it.
I give you buckets of credit, SheLion - I'm having a hard time with just this one broken ankle - how you managed with both is beyond me.
You are right about the taxes being brought about from both sides of the aisle.
The DOJ hands are tied in this litigation against the TCs.........neither Bush or Ashcroft were interested in pushing the issue that was started in 1998 (or thereabouts) by Janet Reno and so language was put into legislation, signed at the 11th hour by Clinton before Bush took over, mandating it be continued.
I'm not defending them, just making the record clear that it was not a Republican Administration that started this nonsense.
Oops!
I am about as sharp as a bowling ball today. Sorry!
Hey! That's ok. I pinged you this morning after the thread was posted. I wondered where you had gotten off too. :)
I lived in a wheel chair. Ugh. I developed some muscle in my biceps from pulling myself up and over a lot with my arms. It was great. LOL!
not
Just bare with it though. Give it time to heal. I wasn't able to and my feet never healed right. But thank God, I can still walk on them.
LOL. I've been bouncing all over FR, and I guess all my ramblings on other threads pushed the ping from you down before I noticed it.
:) Or, I could just be a twit, LOL!
That happens to me, too.
Sometimes I am posting on 3-4 threads. After awhile, I don't know WHERE the hell I am. haha!
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