If I purchase a pack of cigarettes and want to sell them individually I should have every right to do so. The gov’t doesn’t need to skim off every personal transaction people make. I don’t get why it’s illegal.
“I don’t get why it’s illegal.”
Without the package, it’s impossible to tell if the tax has ever been paid.
You can’t make individual sales legally because of the taxes involved. A pack of cigarettes has a state (and in NYC, perhaps a city) tax stamp on it. A pack purchased in Virginia can’t legally be sold in NY (or most anywhere else) because the local taxes haven’t been paid on it. Big money can be made by smuggling out-of-state cigarettes from low-tax states to high-tax states to evade the taxes and pocket the difference.
NY city has one of the highest taxes on cigarettes in the nation. This led to gangs getting cigarettes that hadn’t been taxed and selling them on the black market to avoid the tax.
The tax was meant to reduce smoking, but instead it led to a black market. Unintended consequences and one more stupid law for cops to have to enforce.
then get the law changed, in the meantime it’s illegal and its the cops job to enforce the law.