Posted on 02/21/2005 6:46:21 AM PST by Zon
Hundreds of Michigan residents are getting a big surprise this tax season--hefty tax bills for cigarettes they bought online over the past four years.
The state sent the bills to 553 residents last week after subpoenaing 13 online tobacco shops for names of Michigan customers and their order histories, a Michigan Treasury Department spokesman Caleb Buhs said on Friday. The tax bills are based on information from just one store, and the state expects to collect more names from the others.
Collectively, the people receiving this first round of bills owe the state $1.4 million, an average of $2,500 per person, Buhs said. They have until March 14 to pay.
"At its most fundamental level, this is an issue of tax fairness," State Treasurer Jay B. Rising said in a statement. "It is only right that out-of-state vendors, who conduct business only online and at arms length, follow the letter of the law. These taxes are collected by brick-and-mortar businesses in Michigan, and Internet vendors should not be allowed to skirt their responsibility."
Michigan, which levies a $2 tax on every pack of cigarettes, collected $993 million in tobacco taxes last year, Buhs said.
eSmokes, one of the top tobacco sellers on the Web, cancelled thousands of orders to Michigan customers after hearing about the tax crackdown, an eSmokes representative said. The representative would not discuss whether the store has been subpoenaed by Michigan or any other state.
Michigan did not disclose which companies it has subpoenaed.
Other states, including California, Washington and Wisconsin, have launched efforts to collect tobacco taxes from residents who dodged them online. A 2002 report (click for .pdf) from the U.S. General Accounting Office said most states tax the sale of cigarettes, and that online sales have cost them millions of dollars in lost revenue.
Internet shops that don't tell states about tobacco purchases by people other than licensed distributors are flouting a federal law known as the Jenkins Act. Laws that exempt online retailers from collecting sales taxes do not apply to tobacco excise taxes, the GAO report said.
You want to make me do the math for each individaul state, too? I think the same argument applies. ;-)
(Throws frisbee for dog to fetch again)
Ah! So if your so knowledgeable and I'm so ignorant, riddle me this;
What IS the Constitution?
(and I DON'T mean it's function, or what it says it is - i.e. law of the land)
I mean the actual PHYSICAL document itself...
What IS it?
I honestly believe mosty of them are not patriots trying to change an unjust system. No, they are simple cheats who wrap the flag around themselves when caught.
Which means I have more leverage.
Change the laws. Until then obey them.
What really irritates me is that business and these States can go out-of-state to spend their dollars on cheaper labor and contracts. When does the citizen have the right to the cheaper price? We need a tea party.
Yes we do need a tea party.
Parasitical elites in the State and Federal level know that the government needs to purchase at lower prices...and...that businesses must purchase at lower prices so that the parasitical elite can continue leeching off everyone--business and employees. They don't dare outright kill the golden goose. If they did they'd perish because parasites don'tt produce, they consume their host. Save for one thing -- parasites produce more parasites. Which is how United States arrived at a leviathan government.
My defintion= A contract between the people and the government which is cancelable only by the people.
Yes they did.......but my understanding is that they have slowly been increasing them since. The big problem at the get go was because they raised them so high in one shot.
Sof like what NYC and NYS did - in one shot they raised the state and city tax to $3 per pack, in addition to the federal tax, plus the MSA payment.............and then they add insult to injury by then taxing all the taxes at something like an additional 8%.........and Pataki and Bloomberg wonder why so many NYers are seeking other sources for their cigarettes?
"I honestly believe mosty of them are not patriots trying to change an unjust system."
How very talanted of you to be able to read minds and know intentions.
What makes it right for a larger burden to be placed on one segment of society and not all of society? When that occurs the overburdened society will fight back, regardless of their intentions, they are fighting oppression.
Here is what is going on in Montana today. (sigh)
Bill would enforce tobacco tax
Posted Feb 21, 2005 - 09:53 AM
Associated Press
HELENA - The House gave preliminary approval Saturday to a measure intended to enforce the tobacco tax increase that Montana voters enacted in November.
If lawmakers don't strengthen current tobacco law, legitimate businesses could lose profits to those who try to avoid paying the tax, said bill sponsor Rep. Scott Mendenhall, R-Clancy. Last fall voters passed Initiative 149, increasing cigarette taxes in the state by $1 per pack beginning Jan. 1 this year. The initiative also increased the tax on chewing tobacco from 35 cents to 85 cents an ounce and taxes on other tobacco products from 25 percent to 50 percent of the wholesale price.
Mendenhall's measure would require carriers of tobacco products to report shipments to the Department of Revenue. It would also require those who sell tobacco products to keep records that the Department of Justice could review. The measure also calls for reporting sales before delivering, mailing or shipping tobacco products into Montana and labeling tobacco products shipped into the state.
The bill calls for a variety of penalties, from fines to jail time to forfeiture of the vehicle used to carry illegal tobacco products, depending on the scale of the violation and whether a person has prior convictions.
Opponents said Mendenhall's measure is simply too strict.
"This sounds an awful lot like Prohibition," said Rep. Bill Jones, R-Bigfork.
Some lawmakers worried that ordinary citizens might face severe consequences when returning with tobacco from out-of-state travels.
Mendenhall said exceptions allowing people to bring up to a carton of cigarettes or 10 ounces of tobacco provide leeway for the average tobacco user. He told The Associated Press he expects amendments to soften the penalties in the measure and to increase the amount of tobacco individuals can bring into Montana.
The House approved the measure on a 54-45 vote. A final vote is expected Monday.
I find it very funny...
You continue to obfuscate rather than back up your claim. You have demonstrated that you are not honorable. Perhaps that is too strong and I should just say that you have discredited yourself.
--
*FWIW, The FairTax, for all intents and purposes is voluntary. It removes all federal hidden taxes which cigarette tax is a hidden tax.
No wonder you're a tax-hiking pinhead.
I bet that "cpa" in your screen name means just that.
Whattamatta? Afraid you'll lose business if tax laws are dramatically curtailed and the burden of excessive taxation removed from our backs?
WAAAAAAHHHHH!
For two full weeks, we lived in a land which had no smoking rules or regulations, and it was a paradise!
I must plead guilty your honor...
Often, I would go out of my way to blow my cigarette smoke into the face of Americans. Absolute revenge, and there was nothing they could do about it.
If any American dared to get upset about cigarette smoke, they obtained a DOUBLE DOSE of my second-hand smoke right in their face.
The Mexicans just laughed and understood exactly why I did what I was doing.
You are trying to establish a premise that is subjective. If there were an objective method of sharing a burden we probably wouldn't need government. Our method of gov't for good or bad is designed to find the way to share the burden. Rejecting the government as a whole is an option but I don't think you will get necessary support for an overthrow based on cig tax.
HOLEY COW..............I never looked at it that way. You've made a great point on that.
How about just a flat income tax of 5% for everyone?
And hget rid of 95% of government programs.
I bet you didn't know that graduated income taxes are straight out of Marx and Engels' "Communist Manifesto".
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