Posted on 08/10/2002 2:29:58 PM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
..."We know there's been a steep increase," said Kurt Ribisl, the UNC professor who headed the study. Ribisl sees a direct correlation in the jump of online purchasing to the passage of new cigarette taxes.
Ribisl said the study suggests that while online cigarette sales make up somewhere between less than 1 percent and 5 percent of total cigarette sales a year, depending on the state, those numbers are destined to grow...
...Washington may weigh in on the issue in order to enforce interstate sales tax law. Though a moratorium currently exists on new taxes or enforcements on Internet sales, some lawmakers say concern over health risks related to smoking outweigh anti-tax sentiments...
...Other states have bumped their cigarette taxes this year, including: New Jersey (70 cents per pack), Vermont (49 cents) and Illinois (40 cents). A 69-cents-per-pack increase will begin July 15 in Pennsylvania, more than tripling the 31-cent tax.
New Jersey and New York state both levy $1.50 per pack, the highest cigarette tax in the nation. Washington state is third, at $1.425...
...Many smokers said they felt unfairly targeted by lawmakers, who they said can get away with taxing cigarettes because the habit is no longer socially acceptable...
Becky Rabinowitz, 59, rolled her eyes and imitated nonsmokers who wrinkle their noses and wave away the smoke from her Misty Menthol Lights as they walk by her office building.
"Why do the smokers have to be penalized?" asked Rabinowitz, who has smoked for more than 40 years. "There are other taxes they could be raising that they aren't."
2-What else are you doing to defeat the government's efforts to extort smokers?
3-What are you going to do when government enforces interstate sales tax?
4-How do you feel about the overwhelming percentage of smokers who continue to pay the tax increases?
1)Do you have this much glee when you contemplate the "sin taxes" soon to be imposed on fast food?
2)Are you going to be equally delighted when you can no longer use your barbecue grill or fireplace?
3)You already have given up your SUV, haven't you?
4)You won't mind giving up all pesticides, will you? What's a few roaches and rats? You can always put the legs of the baby's crib in pots of water, and hope that the rats are not the ones that can swim.
5)You probably already wonder why mammograms and colonoscopies are not mandatory. Where are those dratted health police when you need them anyway?
A big effect! And more smokers are finding out every day that buying from the net, the Reservations, or rolling their own is the way to go now.
2-What else are you doing to defeat the government's efforts to extort smokers?
By emailing everyone I can! By running my Forces Maine Website, and by rolling our own for over a year now. Not paying all those taxes into the state coffers tickles me pink.
3-What are you going to do when government enforces interstate sales tax?
Might take 10 years. They can’t just tax tobacco over the Net without taxing everything being sold EVERYWHERE on the net.
4-How do you feel about the overwhelming percentage of smokers who continue to pay the tax increases?
I think they are nuts. If they can truly afford it, great! But we found a much better way, and those tax dollars are just as good in OUR pocket as the state coffers!
You think? Tobacco is a multi-billion dollar "cash cow." I realize the states are killing the goose that laid the golden egg, but there comes a time when they better wake up.
Until many more start trying to go around the system in SOME manner there will not be much effect,
2-What else are you doing to defeat the government's efforts to extort smokers?
Putting out a tobacco related newsletter to my local tobacco shops letting smokers know just how bad it is getting EVERYWHERE, not just in the USA.
3-What are you going to do when government enforces interstate sales tax?
The only thing I buy over the internet is the tubes for my stuff your owns. I could get tubes locally but not the ones I like. If they start taxing internet sales they will have to tax ALL internet sales, not just tobacco related items. Just wait for the screams then.
4-How do you feel about the overwhelming percentage of smokers who continue to pay the tax increases?
They are either stupid or they haven't been given information to let them NOT pay the tax.
This same solution would work for Coca Cola and McDonald's as well. If California imposes "fat taxes" on those industries, they should just shut down all the McDonalds statewide- putting thousands out of work until the state scrapped their plan.
Actually, just the threat of doing this should be enough.
On a side note, back when it looked like Gore might become President, I had thought of a similar tack for corporations to use if the Kyoto Protocol was enacted and they were working with "Carbon Allotments and Credits". The company would go full steam ahead, and in May or July when they used up their allotment of carbon- they'd simply lay the work force off, shut the doors and wait till the new year began so they could get a brand new allotment (instead of "buying carbon" from other nations).
Corporations run this country anyway- they need to start acting like it- they have the power to run those charlatans out of office. If the commies in gov't enact harsh taxes, the corporations should just say "hell no- we'll just shut down if our product bothers you so much".
It's a great idea but someone thought about that when they put together the Master Settlement Agreement. The tobacco companys that signed on for it CAN'T stop selling in ANY of the states that signed that piece of $hit paper.
At least not legally.
That could happen.
Then people will begin buying from overseas (there are Websites currently running which will ship from one of the Slovak countries.)
It will be a lot harder for the Feds to enforce tax regs on THOSE transactions.
Of course, there's always the Mafia--and they will be a much larger player than they are currently.
States will have a very hard time squeezing smokers much harder than they already do...
You may rail about "corps running America," but the shareholders in those Corps are expecting sales revenues, not crusades.
Read Their Lips: No Taxes/New York
MASTIC, N.Y. — Call it tax avoidance — and call it completely legal.
"So for now the nations sell legally from their shops, over the phone and via the Internet. Their advertisements, heavily peppered with exclamation points, read, "Stop paying those high retail prices and start saving with Indiansmokesonline!" and "Make Senecasmokes your choice for discount cigarettes, you'll be glad you did!"
"When asked how many cartons of cigarettes he sells per month, Chief Wallace, a stocky man wearing two braids, denim shorts and flip-flops, responded, "It's none of your business."
"So one could explore the economics this way: A reporter watched seven cartons of cigarettes being sold inside Chief Wallace's shop in five minutes one day in June. Erring on the side of caution, then, one could assume 50 cartons are sold an hour. The shop is open 13.5 hours a day every day, which translates to 675 cartons a day, 4,725 cartons per week, or 18,900 per month. (And that does not include phone and Internet orders.) At an average price of $27.50 per carton, Chief Wallace would take in about $520,000."
"Chief Wallace shrugged and lighted another cigarette. "If they're so bad, make them illegal," he said. "In the meantime, leave me alone."
MY kind of CHIEF!!!
They didn't wake up when they passed prohibition laws eighty-odd years ago either. Face it, most local legislators are not too smart.Those who do not understand history are dooomed to repeat it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.