Yes, legally if the state enacts the law. If I disagree I take my issue to my reps in the legislature. I don't decide the law doesn't apply to me. The difference is either a nation of laws or a nation of men based on anarchy. Apparently, many smokers don't care about orderly government when their precious tobacco is at stake.
I can garuntee that you break at least one law a day, if not more than one. Welcome to the club.
"Apparently, many smokers don't care about orderly government when their precious tobacco is at stake."
Do you consider a smoker who quits to avoid paying the tax a criminal?
Have you ever exceeded the speed limit?
Well, if you're a Demi Big like Bill Clinton or Peggy Lautenschlager, the law DOESN'T apply to you.
It only applies to us serfs... ;-)
You've obviously never seen my "one rep" argument before.
I'm surprised at you, rc. Much of the purpose of this forum is to resist and turn back government over-reaching.
About 150 years ago, we started losing "common law," the centuries-long process of applying Biblical standards to everyday life. The replacement was "statute law," the law of, by, and for the lawyers. The torah contains around 635 case law applications of the ten commandments. The "Federal Register" publishes a phone book's worth of new "laws" every day.
Totalitarian regimes normally enact so many laws that everyone is always guilty of something.
But, as long as we have the jury system, that neighborhood theocracy of men who place their hands on the Bible, and swear and oath to the God of the Bible, to uphold biblical standards of justice, all is not lost. Jury nullification is the solution to statist arrogance.