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Posted on 07/20/2009 10:48:21 AM PDT by markomalley
States across the U.S. have been taking a harder line against an old problem -- cigarette smuggling -- as part of the widening search for solutions to their budget problems.
States including Florida, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Rhode Island and Virginia this year have stepped up law-enforcement efforts with the aim of recouping taxes lost to bootleg cigarette sales.
Studies indicate states are losing about $5 billion annually in tax revenue because of illegal tobacco sales, said Phil Awe, who heads the tobacco-diversion division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
"We do not want to have our tax laws ignored and lose tax revenue from legitimate sales of cigarettes," Maryland State Comptroller Peter Franchot said of the crackdown. He estimates that his state is losing "hundreds of thousands of dollars" annually.
The focus on cigarette smuggling is one of several initiatives gaining momentum as states hunt for new revenue to avoid cutting services or raising taxes. Some are contemplating revising current laws or creating new ones that could force out-of-state online retailers to collect sales taxes.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
In other words, I would have a hard time blaming anybody for doing it (not that I'd EVER do anything like that myself, mind you)
Next Mexico will become a major smuggler of tobacco products into the United States.
Where do I go to buy $30.00 per carton cigs?
Can they be bought cheaper?
Stupid. Meanwhile real criminals walk free.
Actually, the united states will be the supplier.
Smugglers buy them wholesale, tax-free in the US for export.
Then they bring them right back.
You really want cigarette tax avoidance - and be totally legal about it?
Buy an e-cigarette (the cigarette and nicotine packs), you’ll be bypassing that altogether, pay a lot less and be able to use it in all non-smoking places because it is not a cigarette, it does not produce smoke. No second hand smoke, no odor. It will pay for itself in about 2-3 weeks, then after that you’ll be saving a lot of money. the nicotine packs are equiv to 20 cigs (a pack) and cost $2 per cartridge, compared to 6-7 bucks per pack of real cigs.
We have a large border with Mexico, and all have duty free shops, this side of the border.. buy a carton run it across, and your home free, declare it. and do it again.. I know people who are making thousands a month doing this.. San Diego is lucky we have two border crossing with multiple duty free shops..You are allowed 200 cigarettes in 30 days, but ICE does not keep track, so it is good money in this recession
Excessive tax just moves products from the free market to the black market.
Uganda the land of cheap smokes
Back a year or so ago, Marlboros used to be as cheap as $26 a carton in South Carolina. Don’t know if SC has upped their tax or how the new Fed tax impacted it.
I also seem to remember prices being pretty cheap in KY and MO, as well (at least relative to neighboring states)
As far as cheaper, perhaps on Indian reservations.
Actually, terrorists are using this to gain funds.
Just roughing the numbers for an order of magnitude, the trailer would hold roughly 971,107 packs of cigs. @ $5 each, we're talking $4,855,537 smackeroo's. A guy could get rich just hijacking one of these loads.
And they won’t have nearly the class Al Capone had. Thanks, prohibitionist bastards!
Don’t know exact prices, but taxes are ultra-low in Virginia and the Carolinas. There is no shortage of truck stops along the interstates in any of these three states avertising outlet prices. The locals are generally friendly enough to steer you to the best buys.
Attacking electronic cigarettes shows us the government is really worried that people will quit smoking, seriously cutting into their revenues from tobbacco. Myself, I've been using e cigarettes for almost 3 years now; it's how I quit smoking a 2 pack a day habit, and between my wife and I, saving over $7000 a year in what was mostly taxes to governments on tobacco. We don't even use e-liquid containing nicotine anymore, we just enjoy "vaping" they various flavors we make ourselves using the base ingredients contained in commercial e cigarette juice, which is mostly propylene glycol (usp), a commonly used ingredient in food products, and/or vegetable glycerine (soy based) plus whatever concentrated extract oil flavoring ( LorAnn flovorings) we like. If you have never been able to quit smoking but want to, invest in a electronic cigatette and a couple bottles of e juice. (joye510 kit/manual batteries are very good) Best under $100 investment you'll ever make. With just a tiny wee bit of determination, you WILL be able to quit smoking. Alternatively, you can use a e juice flavoring which doesn't have nicotine added, and use a nicotine patch while using the e cig to replace the handling and smoking cigarettes part of the nasty habit.
Keep in mind that our dear government is trying to ban e cigs, so stock up on e-juice with nicotine if you use it.
When I was in the service aboard ship a carton was $2 back in 1963,when I got out I quit smoking when they went up to 55Cents a pack.
Wow, that could nearly pay for a whole bureaucrat.
Believe it or not, the French side of St Martin has US smokes for about $20 / carton.
No tax on ‘em there!
Gee idiot pols, haven’t you figured out the repurcussions of punative taxation yet?
where are your good ol’ neighborhood Mafia guys when you need them?
I see iPhone now has an app to help you find your local pot dealer...can we adapt it to bootleg cigarettes?
I am a lifelong non-smoker, but would ABSOLUTELY LOVE to see Government at all levels take one up the shorts on this issue.
Doesn’t it get expensive replacing the ones you’ve flicked out the car window or whatever?
Some things never change.
Back in the 60s when I worked in a NE Ohio auto plant, there were plenty of low tax Kentucky-sourced cigs being sold out of car trunks. This was for a savings of pennies per pack.
I am aware. You can still order them from Canada if necessary.
Nothing to “Flick”. It’s just replacing an empty nicotine cartridge for a full one. Then you’re good to go. Nothing burns. It’s liquid nicotine in a cartridge that when you inhale triggers an atomizer that sends a little nicotine into your lungs. You exhale a little water vapor that looks like smoke but isn’t smoke.
When in Rome...buy as the Romans would.
If you go across a state border to buy smokes just make sure you go to a restaurant so that you can say that the cigs were just an impulse buy.
You sorta missed the joke. Although, I could see absentmidedly flicking the thing and then going oops.
Old habits and all that.
done
Nicotine is the component responsible for heart attacks and strokes. “Tar” and the other components give you cancer.
>>> Believe it or not, the French side of St Martin has US smokes for about $20 / carton. No tax on ‘em there!
wow... wonder how long that will last.
lol.. they have a website?
Virginia, for one.
I wonder if Virginia can avoid passing tobacco taxes on to me by sending me raw cured produce?
I’ll freaking roll my own if I have to.
Sorry about missing it. Many people don’t know much about them yet.
People I know who use them have never felt the urge to do it. One because they weigh more than a real cigarette, and two, they never shrink, so they never look like they need to be thrown away.
I am certain organized crime has noted the potential profits of supplying consumers with a LEGAL product at lower prices and are responding just like they did during Prohibition. States are foolish to think that raising the price of cigarettes through confiscatory taxation will increase revenue. In response to higher prices the market will always buy less of the product or seek lower cost substitutes. How much will states now have to spend to collect their cigarette taxes?
Who could have guessed this was coming? The States are not going to have the money to add a whole new drug to their police state. All that “income” is going to evaporate quickly into law enforcement, courts and prisons. But the health nazis and hysterics are happy and that is all that matters - really.
I can not recall the exact amount of cigarettes people are allowed to cross state borders with but the amount is very high. High enough so that people involved will make a very tidy profit.
Not too long ago I understand a 19 year old kid from NJ was busted with well over the amount legal for crossing borders. He had a very profitable operation going but managed to get pulled over by the police for a busted tail light.
Does anyone GROW their own tobacco yet, under heat lamps in apartments? It WILL happen SOON, you can be sure!
I paid $7.50 for the last carton I bought! LOL. Times change. In college I once bought a pack for 19 CENTS, in either Virginia or North Carolina! On the way to a war protest in Washington, DC. LOL.
Used to be $26? I have bought Marlboros for $7.50 per carton in Texas. LOL.
And I used to buy them for $4.50 in the commissary. I was talking about a year ago, not 25 years ago. LOL.
WOW! That IS amazing! LOL.
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