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$10,426 Tax Bill For Smoker Who Bought Cigs Over Internet
NBC-10 ^ | February 4, 2007

Posted on 02/04/2007 4:51:40 PM PST by Malacoda

BRICK, N.J. -- New Jersey residents who buy their cigarettes over the Internet are experiencing a big reason to quit: huge sales tax bills.

The state is cracking down on residents who buy their smokes online in order to avoid state sales tax, a development that has caught many Garden State smokers by surprise.

Brick resident Craig Mathews, 57, quit smoking last April, but not before racking up a $10,426.11 sales tax bill for buying cigarettes over the Web for years.

Another Brick resident, Tim Nolan, 52, received a sales tax bill from the state for $4,115.28 for the Pall Mall cigarettes he purchased online from July 2003 to March 2005.

Both men said they bought the cigarettes over the Internet in order to save money and didn't know that they had to pay sales tax to the state of New Jersey.

"We should have gotten a warning," Nolan told the Asbury Park Press for Sunday's newspapers. "We were ignorant of the law."

A professor at Rutgers School of Law, Mark Weiner, said under a federal law called the Jenkins Act, tobacco companies who sell their products to out-of-state consumers must report sales information to the state where the consumer lives.

According to Tom Vincz, a spokesman for the state Treasury Department, the state collects about $4 million a year from sales tax on out-of-state cigarettes.

Vincz said sometimes cigarette sellers will voluntarily offer the information to states, but often the states must demand it from the Internet sites.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; US: New Jersey
KEYWORDS: addiction; cancer; emphysema; pufflisttaxes
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To: Snoopers-868th

I was under the impression the Jenkins Act required the tobacco companies to report their sales, not tobacco retailers.


21 posted on 02/04/2007 5:16:52 PM PST by Gabz (I like mine with lettuce and tomato, heinz57 and french-fried potatoes)
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To: Las Vegas Ron

The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.
- Tacitus, Roman Senator and historian (a.d. 56-115)


22 posted on 02/04/2007 5:18:05 PM PST by HuntsvilleTxVeteran ("Remember the Alamo, Goliad and WACO, It is Time for a new San Jacinto")
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To: Beagle8U

I don't believe Indian Reservations will sell to you unless you can prove you are an Indian or a member of a tribe.


23 posted on 02/04/2007 5:19:56 PM PST by Snoopers-868th
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To: Gabz

You are correct. I never said retailers. I said individuals.


24 posted on 02/04/2007 5:20:36 PM PST by Snoopers-868th
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To: Malacoda

Gotta hand it to New Jersey--they have it ALL!


25 posted on 02/04/2007 5:22:02 PM PST by basil (Exercise your Second Amendment rights--buy another gun today.)
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To: Snoopers-868th

LOL...Yes they will! They will ship you a 100 cartons a day if you want them.


26 posted on 02/04/2007 5:22:39 PM PST by Beagle8U (Thompson / Hunter 2008)
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To: Snoopers-868th

You said the seller was required to report. Individuals can not legally sell cigarettes.


27 posted on 02/04/2007 5:23:13 PM PST by Gabz (I like mine with lettuce and tomato, heinz57 and french-fried potatoes)
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To: Gabz
I was under the impression the Jenkins Act required the tobacco companies to report their sales, not tobacco retailers.

I blew the last post. It is my understanding that sales to anyone other than cigarette distributors the name and address is to be reported to particular State Agency.

28 posted on 02/04/2007 5:25:07 PM PST by Snoopers-868th
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To: HuntsvilleTxVeteran

"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.
- Tacitus, Roman Senator and historian (a.d. 56-115)"


Well that sums it up. Some of those old fellers were pretty smart.


29 posted on 02/04/2007 5:25:53 PM PST by Las Vegas Ron (Free Scooter Now!)
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To: Snoopers-868th

Yes, it is retailers!


30 posted on 02/04/2007 5:26:53 PM PST by Snoopers-868th
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To: Malacoda
These folks have learned a valuable lesson . . .

If you're looking to avoid paying exorbitant taxes on your cigarettes, your best course of action would be to buy your cigarettes at an Indian reservation or take a long trip down to Kentucky or North Carolina once a year to stock up on several hundred cartons.

31 posted on 02/04/2007 5:29:35 PM PST by Alberta's Child (Can money pay for all the days I lived awake but half asleep?)
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To: Gabz
I was under the impression the Jenkins Act required the tobacco companies to report their sales, not tobacco retailers.

Sorry for all my confusion. I think this is an incorrect. The tobacco retailers are responsible to do the reporting of their sales. If I am not mistaken the question of Sales Tax agreements between states was part of this issue but it was skirted because of the Jenkins requirement. When the retailer reports cigarette internet sales of say Michigan residents all sales are easily traceable because internet sales are by credit card. A simple credit card check would provides amount of sales and thus tax liability.

32 posted on 02/04/2007 5:33:46 PM PST by Snoopers-868th
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To: Alberta's Child
If you're looking to avoid paying exorbitant taxes on your cigarettes, your best course of action would be to buy your cigarettes at an Indian reservation or take a long trip down to Kentucky or North Carolina once a year to stock up on several hundred cartons.

What you're suggesting is to evade the taxes that they'd still owe, right?

33 posted on 02/04/2007 5:35:46 PM PST by Gondring (I'll give up my right to die when hell freezes over my dead body!)
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To: Hot Tabasco
Watch the big time internet sales giants such as L.L.Bean, Cabela's, etc. start getting inquiries from the states such as Michigan for their sales records then start going after the customers.

This is not necessarily true. If Cabela's for instance has a business in the State of Michigan they already have a Tax Agreement. If you buy on-line from them you will be charged tax. It is the companies that do not do business within the State but you buy from over the internet that do not have Tax Agreements that you can purchase tax free. Yes, that will end and they are working hard to eliminate it. As I said earlier, only government and business are "entitled" to the lowest rate. Joe Blow pays the bill.

34 posted on 02/04/2007 5:37:18 PM PST by Snoopers-868th
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To: at bay

Actually the SC has found that "ignorance of the law is an excuse". In 1957 they ruled in Lambert v. California that "passive" ignorance of the law is an excuse.


35 posted on 02/04/2007 5:38:22 PM PST by mrmargaritaville
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To: Snoopers-868th

There is a great deal of misunderstanding about who/what is covered by the Jenkins Act, as it was rarely utilized until the advent of internet cigarette sales because of the huge tax increases being imposed by various states

Common sense would tell me that if a state is so concerned about losing cigarette tax revenue they should re-think their cigarette tax rates. Of course there is never any common sense utilized when government sees a money grab, particularly when it comes to the evil smokers.

But I wonder how much it costs these states to pursue all these records and then track down the scoflaws -- wouldn't it just make more fiscal sense to lower the tax instead of wasting even more time and tax money?


36 posted on 02/04/2007 5:38:50 PM PST by Gabz (I like mine with lettuce and tomato, heinz57 and french-fried potatoes)
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To: Beagle8U
I don't think the Jenkins act covers Indian Reservations though.

Yes it does. If a state such as Michigan requests the purchase records from anyplace, reservation or not, they must provide.

The "gotcha" here is that the internet sales outlets will tell you that they do not report their sales to your respective state. However, what they don't tell you is that they are obligated by law to furnish their sales records to whichever state requests them. I got that info first hand from a reservation I called in New York when I was going to make a purchase from them. This was after I had gotten nailed for purchases from DirtCheapCigs.com.......

My advice if you are going to make such purchases, use an alternative name and pay via money order. Regardless of the name, UPS or FedEx will deliver to the address on the shipping label..........

And FWIW, the only info that is being provided to the states is your name, address and purchase amounts. They have never been provided with sales receipts or credit card info or anything.

My argument from the getgo has been that the internet sales outlets have cart blanche to alter their sales records in order to ship massive quantities of orders to out of state buyers and distribute the sales quantities amongst many of their past customers so as to conceal their possible smuggling operations.........

37 posted on 02/04/2007 5:39:25 PM PST by Hot Tabasco
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To: Snoopers-868th
If Cabela's for instance has a business in the State of Michigan they already have a Tax Agreement

I used them as an example only, sorry you missed that.....At least you did get my point.

38 posted on 02/04/2007 5:44:50 PM PST by Hot Tabasco
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To: Hot Tabasco
The "gotcha" here is that the internet sales outlets will tell you that they do not report their sales to your respective state. However, what they don't tell you is that they are obligated by law to furnish their sales records to whichever state requests them.

They are not just obligated by law to furnish their sales records if requested. THE JENKINS ACT SAYS THEY MUST PROVIDE THE RECORDS. The retailers are the ones caught through subpoenas not reporting the sales. Once the State has your name and address as an out-of-state cigarette purchaser, your credit card information is right behind because the State has reason to believe you are breaking the law.

39 posted on 02/04/2007 5:45:47 PM PST by Snoopers-868th
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To: Malacoda

Anti-tobacco zealots enabling government tyranny example number 10,567,258.


40 posted on 02/04/2007 5:46:57 PM PST by mysterio
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