Why doesn’t NYC just tax the hell out of SNAP, WICs, EBT, TANF, Section 8 and EITC? Lotsa money there!
And based on that, with a sales organization on the street the unregistered gun sales in NY will make the Mafia one heck of a tidy profit. Perhaps Cuomo is making financial decisions not political ones after all.
When I lived in NC, I used to drive by JR discount center in Selma. They use to sell cigarettes wholesale. (Looks like they only do cigars now) The parking lot was usually overflowing with car from NY and NJ.
In the 8 miles from my Virginia home to the VA/Maryland state line there are no less that 10 “discount” cigarette stores (plus convenience stores that also advertise cheap prices) and on any given day the out of state plates in those lots out number the VA plates. I also live a direct 6 hours south of NYC.
No problem uncle Vennie works on the docks in Chicago only $10.00 a carton.
Gee, in a state with Mafia AND Indians?? Whoda thunkit??
Only fools and the middle class pay taxes.
The government makes more “profit” on cigarettes than the cigarette companies.
Phil Mickelson pays almost 65% of his entire income in taxes.
A major hub is Akwesasne, where cigarettes are produced tax-free. They are readily available in Toronto for less than $2 a pack. Excise taxes here are $4/pack.
I had a lady from NY here looking at houses a few years ago(I’m a Realtor)and when she found out cigs were $4.00 a pack she asked me to pull over at a store. She bought 10 cartons of Salems. She said they were $10.00 in NY and that was 5 years ago.
The locals here buy cigs and gas at Indian stores. Now & then they get raided by NYS, but they’re back in business quickly. Puts a differentight on the so-called smuggling statistics.
Always Remember; “Anyone who gets rich in public service is a crook” Harry S. Truman
This Indian site is still mailing out cigarettes.
http://www.senecacigarettes.com/tobacco/
How can they get away with this?
Is it safe to order from them?
(Grandfather needs place to get cheaper cigarettes)
While I do not doubt the basic thrust of this story, and I applaud anyone that can screw any level of government out of “their” tax money, I have one question:
HOW CAN THEY POSSIBLY KNOW THIS?
How can anyone know how many people ARE NOT paying taxes on cigarettes or anything else? How can they know, to one hundredth of a percent, how many people are doing something illegal? If it were possible to know this information, the government would be arresting and jailing those involved. And there would not BE “70% of taxes not paid.”
Since it is not possible to actually know this information, this whole story is a LIE. It is PROPAGANDA, disseminated for the sole purpose of justifying more police power, more police snooping, more government. It is to convince the low-information voters that the government is “looking out for” them. That the government needs more power, more authority, more taxes, to chase down these rotten smugglers, and make them pay “their fair share.”
Crap!
rant off
I am sure organized crime has a thriving black market in bootleg cigarettes. Too bad politicians are ignorant of history. When the great social experiment of Prohibition was enacted to save people from themselves organized crime thrived providing people the beer and alcohol they wanted.
Indian Reservations within the State.
Good. May it continue in spades.
Regards,
Smokes are $100/carton in the local grocery story (yes, you read that right) and $30 on the "res". New York has been funding its government for years now by counting the revenue it "should" get from tobacco.
And, let me tell you, they're really pi**ed they're not getting it.