Posted on 08/28/2011 3:11:07 PM PDT by SmithL
PLEASANT HILL -- To get a good deal, Paul Brodman used to buy cigarettes online.
Little did he know, those smokes weren't the bargain they appeared to be. There's no getting out of paying state taxes simply by buying cigarettes online.
Earlier this month, Brodman received a bill for $1,398 from the State Board of Equalization for back taxes and penalties he owes for 100 cartons of cigarettes he bought online from an out-of-state retailer in 2007 and 2008. Initially, Brodman thought it was a mistake.
"We smoked them; we didn't resell them," he said. "I wasn't selling them on the corner."
When he bought cigarettes online, Brodman should have paid the state an excise tax of 87 cents per pack, plus a use tax of 8.25 percent on the total purchase amount.
"We know that people make purchases out of state and online looking for a deal, and they know they're getting away with something, or they should know they're getting away with something," said Anita Gore, spokeswoman for the State Board of Equalization. "It is the law that these taxes be paid."
Brodman says he turned to the Internet because cigarettes were "substantially cheaper" than at the corner store.
One reason cigarettes are more expensive in California than in some other states is because voters have added several surtaxes to cigarettes and other tobacco products over the years. The base cigarette tax is 12 cents per pack. The additional 75-cent tax on each pack funds tobacco-related health education programs and
(Excerpt) Read more at contracostatimes.com ...
Nazi’s are always proud to be called one....LOL
There was a little grocery store in the small town where I grew up and the old man owner there would sell single cigarettes for a penny each, you didn't have a choice of brands, just whatever he had open, usually Camels. He sold mostly to kids and no parents blew a fuse over it. Back then it was the parents responsibility if they didn't want their kids to smoke.
I started smoking when I was 12 years old and quit when I was 62. I consider myself one of the fortunate ones, in that I'm still kicking.
There also was a tavern in our town that wasn't particular about the age of their customers. I started going in there for a beer when I was a freshman in high school. They had 3 sizes of glasses of draft beer, 5¢, 10¢ and 15¢, I could usually only afford the nickle one so I could have enough money for cigarettes.
We sure are old!
“So, now, who is going to try and admit they never bought anything online and if so, dutifully paid every penny of taxes due your State?”
I have never avoided state tax by buying in another state or on the Internet.
They were 13 cents a pack when we were out at sea in 1970. I quit when they went over a quarter in the stores.
I do, however, appreciate the taxes paid by those who still smoke.
I know they were very cheap when I got in back in the early 70s.
Perhaps states should quadruple their cigarette taxes and enlarge the black market for smuggling even further. It can be a great success like the WOD. We can throw people in jail for 5 years for smuggling the cigs into and out of a state, etc. Great use of taxpayer money.
The reason why the federal government and the states haven't outlawed it is quite obvious -- they make too much money off of it.
Massive taxation is far worse.
Those who practice the vile and disgusting habit of smoking, but wish not to be victimized by the tyrannical and oppressive habit of excessive taxation could do worse than look up the nearest Ciggy Shack.
Roll your own.
Stick it to the jackboots at the "Department of Equalization".
Suck lots and lots of smoke into your lungs ... for half the price!
Just do it some place away from me.
“We sure are old!”
Just call me grandpa.
“they make too much money off of it.”
Not nearly as much as the silly sods thought they were going to.
Guv’ment, by Roger Miller
From Big River, his eight-Tony adaptation of Huckleberry Finn)
Well, you dad-gum gover’ment
You sorry so ‘n’ so’s
You got your damn hands in every pocket of my clothes
Well, you dad-gum, dad-gum, dad-gum gover’ment
Oh, don’t you know
Oh, don’t you love ‘em sometimes?
Well, you dad-gum gover’ment
You better pay attention
You’re sittin’ up there like a fool’s convention
Well, you dad-gum, dad-gum, dad-gum government
Oh, don’t you know
Oh, don’t you love ‘em sometimes?
Well, you soul-sellin’, no-good
Son-of-a-shoe-fittin’ firestarters
I ought to tear your no good
Perambulatory bone frame
And nail it to your gover’ment walls
All of ya’, ya’ bastards.
You dad-gum gover’ment
You sorry rackafratchits
You got yourself an itch
And you’re wantin’ me to scratch it
Well, you dad-gum, dad-gum, dad-gum government
Oh, don’t you know
Oh, don’t you love ‘em sometime?
Well, you soul-selling, no-good
Son-of-a-shoe-fittin’ firestarters
I ought to tear your no-good
Perambulatory bone frame
And nail it to your government walls
All of ya’, ya’ bastards.
Well, you dad-gum government
You sorry so ‘n’ so’s
You got your damn hands in every pocket
Of my clothes
Well, you dad-gum, dad-gum, dad-gum government
Oh, don’t you know
Oh, don’t you love ‘em sometimes?
If it was difficult to grow marijuana yourself they would have legalized it by now and started taxing the crap out of it like they do for cigarettes. For a group that claims to care about the poor, Democrats don’t seem to mind taxing them heavily on their cigarette purchases. It’s one of the most regressive taxes that we have. And many Republicans support it as well — helps them when they kiss the media’s butt and talk about how much they care about the children.
“If it was difficult to grow marijuana yourself they would have legalized it by now and started taxing the crap out of it like they do for cigarettes.”
But you know the quality would be inferior and the price astronomical.
A booming black market in better, cheaper marijuana would spring up so fast it would impale anyone standing in its way.
Very little change would result, I think. Do you really see drug cartels submitting to government regulation, or accepting exclusion from the market?
That is precisely why, if it is made legal that it should remain mostly unregulated and untaxed, with no criminal penalties for private growth or sale. As long as the price remains close to the true market price, no black market will develop. Drug cartels would fail to compete. They only compete now because of the enormous profits offered by a black market.
“if it is made legal that it should remain mostly unregulated and untaxed”
Do we need to call Las Vegas for the odds on that?
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