[TheOtherOne]

Follow up to this:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1345916/posts

[TheOtherOne]

ping

[SheLion]

They can't have both.

[lafroste]

The next step is to start using aliases and confusing ID trails as otherwise honest people attempt to circumvent the smash & grab tactics of the state, leading these people into more serious criminal code violations. I believe that criminal acts should be confined to criminal behaviour. There is nothing inherently criminal about buying cigarettes or using freon (for example). I got a notice just the other day that using a sewage pumping service to pump out a grease trap was now a 2nd degree felony. A felony? For using a septic tank service to clean a grease trap? That is just plain insane.

[Gabz]

Two Web sites, eSmokes.com and DirtCheapCig.com, supplied the names of 11,579 Michigan residents who bought 581,808 cartons, costing the state $8.5 million in taxes.

I hate to tell the dweebs and bean counters in Lansing - that is NOT your money....it belongs to Michigan taxpayers.

Im sure it never occurred to the dimbulbs in the Michigan Legislature to LOWER THE CIGARTTE tax. The lack of economic know how coming from people who are supposedly supposed to be looking out for the interests of taxpayers is unreal.

MEMO to all legislators in all states: YOU WORK FOR US, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.

[Lazamataz]

The state eventually could target thousands more Michigan smokers as more vendors respond to subpoenas demanding information about online cigarette purchases made since 2001.

There was no law in play at that time forcing such a tax.

So this is -- as is typical for government these days -- an illegal post-ex-facto application of the law.

But hey. Expecting legal behavior out of government is awfully silly, these days.

[beltfed308]

And to think this country was started partly due to a tea tax. Stories like this really make the blood pressure rise.

[Luna]

Why don't the state and federal governments just invade people's homes and scrounge around for loose change? Afterall, that's probably tax money that's owed to them, right?

[oceanview]

they should pay by money order, and use the postal service to deliver them, not UPS of fedex. and no credit cards.

[from occupied ga]

Every time I see

The cash-strapped state

I see red. Why the hell is the state "cash-strapped?" Because the politicians and bureaucrats are profligately squandering ever cent the get their greedy wastrel hands on. They have absolutely no incentive to wisely manage the vast funds that they plunder. SO they don't. They put the proverbial drunken sailor to shame.

[Alberta's Child]

If I ever received a letter like this I'd be living in another state within 48 hours.

[xenophiles]

[Michigan issued] subpoenas demanding information about online cigarette purchases made since 2001. Two Web sites, eSmokes.com and DirtCheapCig.com, supplied the names of 11,579 Michigan residents who bought 581,808 cartons

I can't blame a company for responding to a subpoena, but it is worth noting that these two companies maintained transaction lists long after the transactions were complete. The tendency to keep records on other people without their consent is nosy at best and more often authoritarian. When I hear of an organization doing it or a law requiring it my alarm goes off.

I think if I were running such a business I would treat the identities of my customers as confidential information, to be destroyed as soon as I had no further legitimate use for it. And if the law required me to keep lists, I would salt them with the names and addresses of governors and congressmen. And keep them on paper in a cardboard box next to the furnace in a mouse-infested cellar.

[in the Arena]

We have been forced to stop ALL internet sales and shipping. You have truly been the greatest customers in the world. Thank you for everything!

Everyone at DirtCheapCig.com

[mak5]

I just heard on the news this morning that Ohio is looking to do the same thing while the legislature debates raising the cigarette taxes another 80 cents a pack.

[CSM]

"Rewards of up to $5,000 are being offered to those who tell authorities about tax-free cigarette purchases."

Yep, now we want normal citizens to be the tax collectors.

[Oystir]

Michigan...home of a canadian governor and an earing wearing mayor named Kwami. Also huge unemployment,high taxes, auto suppliers going bankrupt and soon to be followed by GM's own bankruptcy.