[Marianne]

Emphasis added

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[zoyd]

Black market capitalist bump

[Argus]

I have had no luck buying cigarettes on the internet. The site - in Switzerland - advertises absurdly low prices but won't recognize my credit card numbers. Anybody out there know how to do this?

[per loin]

Not the first time that Americans have headed for Indian country to escape the tyranny of the state.

[PatrioticAmerican]

Kinda like a Boston Tea Party.

[Saundra Duffy]

Ditto from California where the democraps want to raise the tax $1.10 per pack! LOL!! P.S. This hurts the poor, disabled & elderly. The rich can afford to puff away 'til the cows come home but the underprivileged will have to give up food and clothing. Go figure.

[yankeedame]

And what gets me is the politicos are always so surprised!

[TightSqueeze]

The U.S. Supreme Court has said the state has a right to collect taxes on cigarette sales by Indians to non-Indians.

I say dust off the jack-booted thugs and force everyone who smokes be able to prove they have paid their taxes. Use swat-teams at road blocks to search anyone suspected of using tobacco to prove that have used legally obtained and taxed cigarettes. The Constitution provides no right to smoke, bust them till they bleed.

[daviddennis]

Thanks for posting this very timely article.

I'm an affluent non-smoker, and I have many not so affluent - often dirt poor - smoking friends.

I'm thinking of making a few runs down to the reservations myself, if I can find one. Or buying them online.

D

[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.

[clintonh8r]

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

[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

[PJ-Comix]

and other places that don't charge state or local taxes.

aka Bootleggers.

[dead]

This article makes me want to take up smoking, just so I can buy cigarettes from the Indians and piss off the statist jackasses.

[SCARED]

it DID NOT cost the state 900 mil. it kept some of my,and others, money in our pocket!!!!

[apillar]

In West Virginia the tax on cigarettes is currently 17 cents Gov. Wise recently proposed a 55 cent increase in the cigarette tax, the next day a group of legislators came out and said they wanted a $1 tax increase on cigarettes on the condition that the 6 cent food taxes was eliminated. It seems the only debate is how high to raise the tax.

I have to admit having a moral dilemma between my anti-tax side and my capitalist side. You see, I work in Virgina during the week, cigarette taxes are 2.5 cents in Virgina. I've already had some inquiries from friends and relatives about bringing in some cartons if the tax increase happens. I figure if I can get 20 or 30 people lined up and charge a couple dollars a carton over my purchase price and could make enough money to at least pay for my gas every week.

[William Terrell]

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. . .

A tax law evidently creates an entitlement so that noncollections constitute a "loss".

. . .to close a deficit estimated as high as $12 billion.

I hear several states enacting tax measures to close a huge deficit. No one seems to ask why such a deficit exists in the first place.

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.

I'm blinded by the brilliance of that statement. Will they tell us water is wet and dirt is dirty now?

Come on, New York, tell us why you owe $12 billion and who you owe it to, and what security did you give for the debt that can be siezed on nonpayment.

[Bella_Bru]

cost the government nearly $900 million in tax receipts last year

Boo-frickin'hoo. Dear Governement: KEEP YOUR PAWS OFF OF MY WALLET!

[waterstraat]

If you buy cigarettes over the internet, be sure to buy them from a dealer who will not supply the names and addresses of its customers.