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California passes Internet cigarette bill
Reuters ^
| September 11, 2003
| Reuters
Posted on 09/14/2003 2:05:42 PM PDT by Just another Joe
California passes Internet cigarette bill
Thu September 11, 2003 05:02 PM ET
SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - California's legislature has passed a bill banning Internet cigarette sales unless retailers provide the buyer's name and address so the state can collect tobacco and sales taxes.
California law now requires retailers to either collect the state taxes or print a notice on the shipment informing buyers they are responsible for the taxes -- a loophole the bill's sponsor says cost the nation's most populous state $54 million a year in lost tobacco levies.
"Internet and mail order cigarette retailers are making a fortune by thumbing their noses at the federal law and misleading California buyers into thinking they can duck nearly $9 in state tobacco taxes on every carton of cigarettes they order," the bill's sponsor, Democratic Sen. Debra Bowen, said on Thursday.
The legislation, which the Senate approved on a bipartisan 24-11 vote, now moves to Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, who has not yet indicated whether he would sign the bill. The measure was modelled on a 2000 New York law that, with a limited exception, banned mail-order tobacco sales.
California, one of the world's largest economies, could use new revenue. Lawmakers recently closed a $38 billion budget gap in a state forecast to have more big deficits in coming years as a weak economy crimps revenues.
The Senate has not yet taken action on another Internet tax bill that would require the state to join a group of 38 states and the District of Columbia seeking to tax remote sellers, including those that operate online and via mail-order.
Members of that group, known as the Streamlined Sales Tax Project, were key players in a February deal in which eight major online retailers agreed to begin collecting taxes on behalf of about three dozen states. As part of that deal, the vendors were granted amnesty for any prior uncollected taxes.
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; Miscellaneous; US: California
KEYWORDS: butts; california; gnatzies; niconazi; pufflist; smoke; smoking; taxes
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New York and California, what a pair to draw to.
To: *puff_list; Gabz; Max McGarrity; SheLion; Flurry; CSM
Puff
For the taxes don't ya know.
2
posted on
09/14/2003 2:06:43 PM PDT
by
Just another Joe
(FReeping can be addictive and helpful to your mental health)
To: Just another Joe
I may put up a web site to sell cigarettes on line. Have a source to get them outside the US and will be able to sell them for about $ 14 a carton. Without any tax -- state or federal. What do you think about that ??
3
posted on
09/14/2003 2:11:52 PM PDT
by
ex-Texan
(Read Sun Tsu: The Cold War Never Ended)
To: Just another Joe
Join Us…Your One Thread To All The California Recall News Threads!
Want on our daily or major news ping lists? Freepmail DoctorZin
4
posted on
09/14/2003 2:11:54 PM PDT
by
DoctorZIn
To: Just another Joe
It will never stop...The left are insane.
5
posted on
09/14/2003 2:14:56 PM PDT
by
hadaclueonce
("potential, voltage is important, I a shocked, that someone figured that one out")
To: ex-Texan
They'll come after you, sooner or later.
The government will sya that it's your responsibility to tax your customers and then you pay the tax to the state.
6
posted on
09/14/2003 2:15:49 PM PDT
by
Just another Joe
(FReeping can be addictive and helpful to your mental health)
To: hadaclueonce
It will never stop...The left are insane.I hate to say it, but it's not just the left. The right is just as avid for taxes as the left.
7
posted on
09/14/2003 2:16:50 PM PDT
by
Just another Joe
(FReeping can be addictive and helpful to your mental health)
To: Just another Joe
Kalifornicatia will one day be discovered ... after the wall has been brought down ... that had been put up to keep the 'catians in ... that they are all sitting on the beach or desert sand (they won't be able to tell the difference), contemplating their navals ... and we will find another East Germany.
Totally inept in every human way except to collect from the state that gives so very meagerly.
8
posted on
09/14/2003 2:17:40 PM PDT
by
knarf
(A place where anyone can learn anything ... especially that which promotes clear thinking.)
To: Just another Joe
Yes, you are correct...It is sad, we work, follow the rules and some lazy SOB wants to tax the hell out of us so they can buy votes...
9
posted on
09/14/2003 2:29:32 PM PDT
by
hadaclueonce
("potential, voltage is important, I a shocked, that someone figured that one out")
To: Just another Joe
Next they'll demand that the indian casinos collect state taxes on the cigarettes they sell.
To: ex-Texan
I'm using one right now that charges $14.95 a carton and they're shipped via Air Mail from Europe -- no cost for postage and they show up in your mailbox.
11
posted on
09/14/2003 2:38:11 PM PDT
by
geedee
(The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.)
To: Amerigomag
They're already demanding that Indain nations collect the tax in Rhode Island.
The state even raided the smoke shop on Indian land.
12
posted on
09/14/2003 2:41:38 PM PDT
by
Just another Joe
(FReeping can be addictive and helpful to your mental health)
To: Just another Joe
"Internet and mail order cigarette retailers are making a fortune by thumbing their noses at the federal law and misleading California buyers into thinking they can duck nearly $9 in state tobacco taxes on every carton of cigarettes they order," the bill's sponsor, Democratic Sen. Debra Bowen, said on Thursday. The sad part about this is that this POS Bowen doesn't realize have awful it sounds to tax someone nine freakin dollars for a carton of cigarettes. The last time these type of taxes were levied, the Boston Harbor tuned reddish brown.
To: Just another Joe
Their just nuts.
To: Just another Joe
A lot of internet cigarette sales are by Indian tribes. I'm betting that they're not about to let a silly California law tell them what they have to do. Soverign immunity and all that.
To: John Jorsett
See post #12
16
posted on
09/14/2003 2:43:49 PM PDT
by
Just another Joe
(FReeping can be addictive and helpful to your mental health)
To: geedee
I'm using one right now that charges $14.95 a carton and they're shipped via Air Mail from Europe -- no cost for postage and they show up in your mailbox. I'm not a smoker, so this is pure curiosity: with the shipping charges, what does it come to per carton? And doesn't Customs have anything to say about this? I'd think there'd be a duty on cigarette imports. (I HOPE you're not going to tell me that it just comes in uninspected. That'd be a real bad sign when we're trying to keep out more harmful things.)
To: Just another Joe
They're already demanding that Indain nations collect the tax in Rhode Island. That's for tribes in the state itself, isn't it? I wouldn't think California could force a tribe in another state to name names or collect taxes, much less raid them.
To: John Jorsett
That's for tribes in the state itself, isn't it? I wouldn't think California could force a tribe in another state to name names or collect taxes, much less raid them.So far, that's correct. But don't put it past the states to try to get the fedgov to make the Indian territories collect the taxes for them.
19
posted on
09/14/2003 2:51:54 PM PDT
by
Just another Joe
(FReeping can be addictive and helpful to your mental health)
To: ex-Texan
An excellent idea. If you should require some operating capital for such a business, please contact me.
20
posted on
09/14/2003 3:17:09 PM PDT
by
SAJ
(RIP J. Cash -- ''...an' I built it one piece at a time, an' it din't cost me a dime...'')
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