Nanny State PING!
Posted on 06/03/2014 10:13:16 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Cigarette smuggling costs states an estimated $5.5 billion annually. Much of that traffic takes place on the East Coast along Interstate 95, as cigarettes from lower-tax states are being smuggled to states with higher taxes in the Northeast. A new website, sponsored by RAI Services Co., a subsidiary of Reynolds American Inc., calls the I-95 corridor "The New Tobacco Road."
The website draws attention to the problem to encourage states to pass stiffer penalties for smuggling and devote more resources to enforcement.
The website, www.thenewtobaccoroad.com, shows how I-95 has become a key transit route for cigarette smuggling from southern states to the Northeast. The illegal profits that are being derived from these operations benefit an organized-crime infrastructure already experienced in transporting illegal drugs and other contraband, and fostering violent crime up and down the I-95 corridor.
"Cigarette smuggling is becoming the new currency of organized gangs, creating a new culture of crime along the busy Northeast Corridor, and robbing state and local governments of billions of dollars in tax revenues," said Richard Marianos, a retired 27-year veteran of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) who has investigated many tobacco smuggling cases. Marianos will be blogging on The New Tobacco Road website.
"Right now, the financial reward for smuggling cigarettes far outweighs the risks of punishment," said Marianos. "We're very hopeful that the new website will give legislators information they need to stiffen penalties and increase enforcement."
The website will provide important information of interest to lawmakers, law enforcement officials and concerned citizens on how serious the problem of cigarette smuggling really is, and what federal and state governments can do about it.
"The illicit trade of cigarettes is not a victimless crime," said Bryan Hatchell, director of communications for Reynolds American. "It funds organized crime, costs the states billions in tax revenues and hurts law-abiding retail businesses."
Hatchell added, "The cigarette black market also undermines one of our companies' main objectives--to keep tobacco products out of the hands of minors. People who are selling cigarettes illegally don't ask buyers for identification. They sell to anyone with money."
The website features access to recent studies and news reports on the prevalence and cost of cigarette smuggling for the major states along The New Tobacco Road. The site will be updated regularly with reports on smuggling activity, new blog reports from Marianos and updates on efforts by states to combat cigarette trafficking.
"We need tougher laws and more enforcement resources all along The New Tobacco Road," Marianos said. "We hope this site will help raise awareness among law-enforcement leaders, state legislators, federal officials and concerned citizens. Tobacco smuggling needs to become a law-enforcement priority."
Reynolds American is the parent company of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco; American Snuff Co. LLC; Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co. Inc.; Niconovum USA Inc.; Niconovum AB; and R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co.
Nanny State PING!
The state put this up, not the company. The biggest thieves to the company IS the government and their tax stamp.
I really do feel for the tobacco companies.
Also, keep an eye on this - it’ll be a short amount of time before my “Iron pipeline” drives from PA to CT are suspect and I’m placed against a wall.
Oh, the irony!
Lower the tax then and watch it disappear.
EZ money
Federal government sponsored Underground Railroad. The more they tax, the more they divert attention to the real problem—taxation. If it is so bad and the evasion of taxes is so widespread, not to mention the health costs, why not simply make it illegal? Oh no, my bad—we can not have that, too mush money into the profligate federal coffers to throw around, exasperate the problem and shake down the private sector. We cannot have that, besides, who will pay for the health costs of the “children?”
In France, where I have lived for a month now, the government has, at least legally, a monopoly on cigarette sales. This is nation wide. Only licensed “Tabac” stores are allowed to sell cigarettes.
A typical government cartel pack of smokes cost between 6.50 Euros ($8.84) for Winston’s and 7.00 Euros ($9.52) for Marlboro’s.
And the average French citizen just cant afford this.
So this has created a vibrant black market for cigarette sales in certain spots in Paris, in particular.
They are smuggled up from Egypt and Libya (where you can buy a pack for 70 cents american), floated north in boats to southern Italy and then driven up to Paris.
On the streets I buy a carton of Marlboro reds for 45 Euros (a little more than $6 american a pack). And I haven’t bought a bad pack of smokes here yet. They all have Arabic warning labels and in one case they had “Duty free Egypt” printed on them.
You just go to a metro station and wait for a guy to say “Marlboro”.
You then hold up your fingers indicating how many packs you want and then he holds up fingers indicating a per pack price.
If you agree you follow him and do the purchase while walking down the sidewalk.
It actually works out quite well.
It is estimated that 25% of all cigarette sales in Paris are transacted in this way.
The statism - it burns. How does smuggling "cost" a state? How do they spend money on smuggling?
The whole tone of this article is nauseating.
I don’t see it so much anymore (the government probably cracked down), but a few years back in NJ I was getting all kinds of weird cigarettes (MArlboro Lights) - one with Cyrillic writing, one with Chinese, several with no stamp at all...
Many years ago (when a pack of cigarettes had reached $10 in NYC), my wife and I went to an Indian reservation near Niagara Falls NY and bought cartons for $22. This was in the same state as NYC at $10 per pack...
Smuggling - the good old American pastime. Isn’t that how we got around the British?
You cannot have a mafia/organized crime without government.
Think how the Egyptians and Indians gained.
This mindset drives me up the wall. It doesn't "cost" the states a damn thing. It's simply money they can't steal from the citizens.
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