[Jaysun]

"If you have a bill for $10,000 for cigarette taxes, you're a dealer, you're not just smoking," Bloomberg said.

What if you have a bill for more than $3,500? That's the average amount being asked of the 3700 letter recipients. I don't smoke, but I can't imagine how long it must take to amass such a sum in cigarette taxes. I didn't even know they sold cigarettes over the internet (it makes sense when you consider the tax savings for internet purchases).

It seems to me that Bloomberg and his henchmen are at fault for the "lost funds". They dropped the ball by not having a better system by which to extort the money from the smokers. What were the smokers to do, drop a few bucks in the mail twice a day?

[RandallFlagg]

Actually, we smokers are simply expected to grab the ankles.

[kingu]

What were the smokers to do, drop a few bucks in the mail twice a day?

The current legal theory is, well, pretty much that. Pay the tax when you get your shipment of cigarettes, since that is when the tax is owed.

[MarkL]

What if you have a bill for more than $3,500? That's the average amount being asked of the 3700 letter recipients. I don't smoke, but I can't imagine how long it must take to amass such a sum in cigarette taxes. I didn't even know they sold cigarettes over the internet (it makes sense when you consider the tax savings for internet purchases).

I've heard that a pack of cigs in NYC is about $7. That would put the taxes at well over $4 a pack.

Mark