ISSUE OF EASY AVOIDANCE OF STATE CIGARETTE TAXES IS BEGINNING TO BOIL OVER

The Buffalo News ^ | January 15, 2003 | Tom Precious, News Albany Bureau

[Marianne]

ALBANY - Tax avoidance by smokers has become so widespread that upward of 40 percent of all cigarettes consumed in the state are obtained through Indian smoke shops, the Internet and other places that don't charge state or local taxes, an industry group said Tuesday.

The rush by smokers to Indian retailers, out-of-state stores and Internet sites intent on bypassing the state's rising cigarette tax cost the government nearly $900 million in tax receipts last year, according to an industry-funded study by Fair Application of Cigarette Taxes, a group representing convenience shops, grocery stores, gas stations and others that sell cigarettes.

The long-simmering debate has intensified again as the industry groups seek to use the lost tax revenue numbers as leverage with government officials desperate to find cash to close a deficit estimated as high as $12 billion.

Native American representatives dismissed the study as a self-serving effort from an industry trying to take advantage of the state's budget deficit problems.

In a strange twist, Fair Application of Cigarette Taxes appeared Tuesday in Albany, allied with health care lobbyists with whom they had fiercely fought in past tax-increase battles. Both urged the state to restrict the sale of untaxed cigarettes.

"On this issue we have common ground," said Russell Sciandra, director of the Center for a Tobacco Free New York.

The health groups say tobacco consumption levels have fallen since the state last year pushed its cigarette taxes to the nation's second-highest - $1.50 per pack. However, they say the drop has not been nearly as much as it would have, had such easy ways to avoid taxes not been available to consumers.

"We want to see the full public impact of the increase in excise taxes," said Timothy Nichols, a lobbyist with the American Lung Association.

In the Buffalo area, non-Indian retailers say they have seen their revenues drop since last year's big cigarette tax increase as more and more of their customers head to Seneca smoke shops or the Internet.

The U.S. Supreme Court has said the state has a right to collect taxes on cigarette sales by Indians to non-Indians. But the Pataki administration, after once siding with non-Indian retailers and in the face of violent Indian protests, in 1997 backed off trying to collect the taxes from reservation sales.

Now, with the state facing a huge budget shortfall, industry officials believe they may have a new tactic to use in Albany to get officials to notice their plea.

The state "has a right to collect this tax to help solve the state's budget problem," said Dan Finkle, a Fulton County businessman and spokesman for Fair Application of Cigarette Taxes. His group is scheduled to hold a news conference today in Buffalo on the issue.

The group spent $17,000 on a study to look at uncollected taxes from cigarette sales. The group's consultant, using a variety of data, estimated up to $609 million in cigarette taxes went uncollected in 2001. By last year, that number had soared to nearly $895 million. Besides the state, local governments were money-losers since the nontaxed sales lowered what they would have otherwise collected in sales taxes.

[Argus]

Thanks for the tip!

[Argus]

Thanks. I used to roll my own, but now prefer factory-rolled.

[EggsAckley]

My pleasure. I think I've got a few more links. Hang on.

[BfloGuy]

I've said it before and I'll say it again.

A short 1/2 hour south of Buffalo, I pay $23/carton for Kools vs. $50/carton in the city (that would be about $75 in NYC).

Scold me, if you wish, for my shortsighted and risky decision to smoke; but scold, as well, the shortsighted and risky decisions of the NYS state gov't.

[EggsAckley]

Here's the Cigarette Yellow Pages. click here

[txhurl]

This is delicious. Wasn't tobacco one of our first crops? The reason we colonized so quickly? The reason we had to clear out the injuns so we could grow more tobacco?

[Free the USA]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[clintonh8r]

Someday the tax whores might learn that higher taxes do not equal higher revenues.

[TightSqueeze]

The reason we colonized so quickly?

We ain't no colony no more, this is America, a police state get used to it pal.

[OBone]

I have heard of that place but never tried it, but the van driver that moved me told me about it so they must accept some credit cards. Do an internet search and look for Indian Reservations, or places in Virginia. I used to get them from a place in VA and if you order 5 cartons there is no shipping charges. I haven't paid more than $22 for a carton since I moved and that's on the open market, but we are in a little "off the beaten track" area. Look at several sites and see who offers the best deal on your brand. I can probably find you some links if you are really interested freep mail me.

[OBone]

If you are going to make a run go to NC or an "out of the way" VA spot. VA only taxes 2 1/2 cent a pack, but some local areas put a local tax on them.

[OBone]

It was used as money in the early days.

[OBone]

bust them till they bleed.


Guess that means you are going to have to start paying increased taxes now to make up for the short fall. Now, you too can pay for health insurance for the poor and all the other things that politicians claim the tax is going for.

[cmsgop]

The biggest mistake the States made is too raise the taxes so much it would cause instant rebellion. If I was a RAT Gov. it would have been a 10to 22 cent a year comprimise for 5 to 7 years. Nobody would have ever noticed. And Im a Smoker.....

But the whole thing is BS anyway!

[jackbill]

bypassing the state's rising cigarette tax cost the government nearly $900 million in tax receipts last year

Maybe I'm perverse, but I look at it as "saved the taxpayers nearly $900 million last year".

[MarkL]

Let me see if I've got this straight... The gub-mint decided to raise the cost of cigarettes with taxes, supposedly to "help" people decide to quit smoking, and to make the smokers pay "their fair share" of... Well, what ever it is, since we saw what happened with the first tobacco settlements.

Now, fewer people are buying cigarettes (through the "normal" channels), so there's reduced tax revenue... I thought that reducing the number of smokers WAS one of the reasons for raising the taxes in the first place!!! So this is the outcome that they were looking for to begin with!

Of course, now they're whining about people avoiding the taxes... Wow, whod-a-thunk-it? People trying to save money when the gub-mint decided to jack up the costs! I know that I'm shocked that people would try to avoid paying the additional taxes! Shocked, I tell you!

Mark

[txhurl]

Yep, it is, but my point was the irony of the Indians getting in some payback. Pal.

[muggs]

Yes, check out allnative,com. I've been getting cigarettes from them for over 2 years with no problems. Be sure to check out the native brands. You can get a carton of Smokin Joes for $11.49 a carton. I can't tell the difference between them and Marlboro cigarettes.

In the past, when I wanted to try different brands of the native cigarettes I would let them know which ones I wanted to try and they would send a free pack for me to try.

[Mark]

this has been popular site around USA
http://www.killbucktradingpost.com/

[Petronski]

Cheapest smokes on the net are at www.yesmoke.com and yes I have ordered from them and yes they are for real. Only one catch: when you order a carton of cigarettes, they send you ten packs, but you don't get the cardboard 'carton' they should normally come in. They arrive in a cushioned, soft-sided envelope.

I ordered from the site because I wanted Gauloises Blondes, which are very good French cigarettes but not sold in the states. But they have a carton of Marlboro Redpacks on there for $15.

TWO CARTON MINIMUM but at those prices who cares?

I have no affiliation with this site except for occasional purchases and deep appreciation.