Posted on 01/14/2005 9:09:13 PM PST by Zon
N.Y. asks online cigarette buyers to cough up tax
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Friday that smokers who bought cigarettes over the Internet had better be prepared to cough up taxes they tried to avoid by going online.
"The law says you got to pay your taxes. The handful of people who don't are just stealing from the rest of us," Bloomberg said in a weekly radio address.
The city's finance department this week sent letters to 3,700 smokers asking them to fork over $1.3 million in city taxes from Internet tobacco purchases.
The annual loss to the city from online tobacco sales totals $40 million, according to Joanna Perlman, a finance department spokeswoman. Some individuals owed as much as $10,000.
"If you have a bill for $10,000 for cigarette taxes, you're a dealer, you're not just smoking," Bloomberg said.
"The finance commissioner is required by the city charter to enforce the law. It's against the law to buy something out of state and bring it in and avoid sales tax," he said.
I don't think you have to worry if you bought your cigs from the Indians. They've fought and won every time the state tries to make them cough up their records.
All the people I know who have received these tax bills purchased their cigarettes from non-Indian sources.
BTW...keep in mind that I said, "I don't THINK you have to worry." I could be wrong.
Regards,
PS: Keep it up, Bloomberg. You've already got turf wars happening all over the city selling cigs on the corner just like drugs. They're knocking each other off to keep their turf. More and more people will be buying from the back of Luigi Goombah's trunk, just wait and see. These greedy politicians are truly idiots.
But can Bloomie send me a bill even if I bought them online in Colorado from their address of, "P O box 1274 Lewiston, NY 14092"?
That's the mailing address for senecasmokes.com
You are in Colorado?
Then I imagine you REALLY don't have to worry. These tax bills went out ONLY to NYC residents. The City has no power to tax you.
Oh, and Lewiston is not in NYC either.
Regards,
No, I think he's only going after NYC residents who presumably smoke the cigarettes IN NYC -- in fact, the state of NY has a line on its tax forms that requires you to 'fess up to any cigarettes you purchase out of state or were untaxed (as in Indian purchases) AND which were consumed in NY.
The way I see it is it's almost like a use tax. If you USE it in NY, they want to tax it, no matter where you bought it. Of course, they haven't got the cojones to go after EVERYTHING purchased online from out of state, but smokers are an easy target, considering that we are dirty, filthy, immoral degenerates.
Regards,
Yeah. I hear ya.
I might have asked you already, but my memory sucks. Have you ever considered rolling your own?
In CT what the people call a "sales" tax is referrred to in law as a "Sales and Use" tax. It covers sales as well as transactions outside of traditional sales. It could be used to charge taxes on barter deals and it expressly requires purchasers of goods who bring those purchases back to CT to pay taxes on them. Internet sales are included as are the more traditional mail order purchases.
How do they know who is buying cigs online? Michael Bloomberg is the ultimate Lifestyle Nazi.
Don't mind me. I'm just bouncing off your post ti change my tagline
I think someone could make alot of bucks by bringing out an automatic cigarette making machine. Say one that makes a pack in 5 minutes.
Would this be a good time to discuss the Whiskey Rebellion?
Internet Sales Tax and Cigarettes
Internet sales are booming. Items ordered over the Internet from another state are shipped on a daily basis.
The state lawmakers say nothing until it comes to cigarettes. Some states have overly taxed cigarettes, forcing adults to purchase online to save money. It is the American way to shop cheap. So, why are lawmakers focused solely on Internet sales of cigarettes? Why have they singled out tobacco products?
They drove smokers to buy cigarettes elsewhere, and now they are trying to persecute buyers for doing so.
Thousands of items are bought on Ebay everyday, yet the lawmakers overlook it. Napster just won a court case stating they do not have to disclose their customer list. Why should it be any different with cigarettes?
The best speed I can crank on my Premier Supermatic is one cig every 8 seconds.
G'mornin', SheLion!
I sold my Excel Injector Machine to a lady at work.
Another mind corrupted by an EEEEEEEvil smoker! MUAHAAHAAHAAAAA!!!
That makes TWO machine injectors sold in less than a month.
Years ago, NY sent "undercover officers" to malls in New Jersey (I don't know if it's still the case, but at the time, NJ didn't charge sales tax on clothing) to record the license plate numbers of NY registered cars, and sent them warning letters that it was illegal to purchase items out of state to avoid paying taxes. There were talks of "townsfolks with torches and pichforks," so it was dropped. Looks like it's back again!
IIRC, they went to court and got an order for the on-line sellers (and I think the Indian reservation sellers as well) to turn over their customer lists, and their records.
Mark
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