[kingu]

Isn't a person's mail private anymore?

Sure, your mail is private. A business' sales records, on the other hand, aren't private. Number one reason why I've not purchased cigarettes online. (Especially with the handy cigarette tube stuffers like the Supermatic. Two cartons of tubes and a can of tobacco for under $25 (including California's taxes) makes it $12.50 a carton. I invest a little bit of time, and I save a lot of money.)

[AirForceMom]

[01/13/05]

The Finance Department has ordered smokers who bought tax-free cigarettes on the Internet to pay city taxes on their purchases.

The demands were made in letters mailed this week, The Daily News and The New York Post reported in Thursday editions.

"This is the first time we've done this," Finance Commissioner Martha Stark told the News. "It's part of a new, long-term effort to ensure we're enforcing the cigarette tax laws."

The city mailed letters to about 2,300 people whose names were obtained from the Web site Cigs4Cheap.com, which is no longer operating, the News said. The letters warned that recipients who failed to pay the back taxes would be penalized up to $200 for every carton purchased online.

In 2002, New York City smokers began paying $1.50 in city tax on a pack of cigarettes _ up from the previous 8 cents a pack. Combined with a state tax increase, the cost of a typical pack of cigarettes in the city jumped to a nation-high $7.50.

Hoping to avoid paying the taxes, some smokers turned to Internet sites, mail-order catalogs and tax-exempt Indian merchants.






200.00 PER carton fine.

[I_dmc]

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.