"Smokers are always the easy, politically safe, no-backlash constituency to leech more money from," Kjono said.
Truer words than he realizes.
so you can sell porn on Ebay, just not smokes.
They don't call it the "Evergreen State" for nothing.
Pay up all you nicotine fiends.
Sounds to me like the man's privacy rights may have been violated. How did the state get his name and information from the company? Is that legal for the state to do?
There is a better way. Buy the cigarettes from a Internet site in a foreign country. If the site is registered to a company incorporated in, say, India, the state probably has no right to assess or collect taxes. The sale was made in India, not the state of Washington. The Indian corporation could tell the state that it has no jurisiction and simply refuse to comply with information requests. Even if the state filed suit in federal court it is doubtful they could make a foreign corporation comply. At least that is the argument that would be made in court of law.
US Constitution:
Section 8. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
To borrow money on the credit of the United States;
To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes;
The tax collectors vow to be relentless but deny that the primary motive is to collect the back taxes. The real purpose is to "educate people so they realize they're breaking the law."
Two words come to mind and it rhymes with bull shit.
WA cigarette tax ping
"Anyone found in possession of cigarettes without a washington state or state authorized stribal stamp is subject to a fine". Do have have cigarette police in the state walking around asking to see your pack? If both states have sales tax, would the state selling the product be subject to the sales tax not the out of state ?
But if we put a sales tax of 30% on everything, everything will be just fine.
The Fair Tax won't work.
Personally I believe cigarettes ought to be outlawed completely. Then again the government would never do that because it would soon go broke of have to raise the missing tax money on something else.
Here's the next progression:
CA, MA or some other socialist state wants to take a back door route to banning guns and ammo and decides to impose a punitive tax of, say $.50 per round, "for the children."
Lawful citizens of the state say "screw that!" and start buying ammo on line from out of state. State watchdogs let things roll for a few years then use the Jenkins Act to find these customers and hit them up for taxes and penaltys.
Score 1 for the state.
I'd buy cigarettes on the web too except they don't handle my brand.
I'm sure organized crime will step in to help consumers get what they want without the government's interference. They did just that during Prohibition.
So if a person stops at a store in Portland, Oregon, and buys a pack of cigarettes, and then gets pulled over by the police in Vancouver, Washington, and they notice his cigarettes, then that person is subject to a fine???????????????????????
I have also been told by residents of Alabama, that there is a line on the Alabama state tax return for you to list and pay taxes on any items you purchas out of state. So, if you take a trip down to Florida, you are supposed to report and pay taxes on what you buy. Ummmm....when donkeys fly.
Since when has it been constitutional for a State to tax, place tariffs and regulate interstate commerce?