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Post Office Sidesteps Fray on Illicit Sales of Cigarettes
NY Times ^
| May 29, 2005
| MICHAEL COOPER
Posted on 05/28/2005 10:17:17 PM PDT by neverdem
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To: neverdem
Congress has considered legislation that would ban the mailing of cigarettes. US Constitution
Article I
Section 10
paragraph 1
Powers prohibited of States No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.
States have these as well.
If I purchase something, whether from an individual or a business, it IS a contract.
The post office is delivering these DESPITE what the states say simply because they cannot interfere with an 'obligation of contract'
Since the FBI is an ILLEGITAMATE division of government, they have been stopping the PLANES, but even they can't stop the mail!
If Congress DOES try it, we SERIOULY need to look at a class action lawsuit.
21
posted on
05/29/2005 10:25:28 AM PDT
by
MamaTexan
(I am NOT a *legal entity* ..... nor am I a 'person' as defined and/or created by law!)
To: MamaTexan
I think state sales taxes on interstate commerce, especially with Indian Tribes, should be challenged as unconstitutional under the
commerce clause, Article I, Section 8 - Powers of Congress:
"To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;"
22
posted on
05/29/2005 12:22:23 PM PDT
by
neverdem
(May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
To: Ursus arctos horribilis
"
The supreme court ruled it is alright for wine drinkers to buy on the Internet and avoid state taxes. But, they deny that same right to smokers. Both are legal products, why the difference?"
They didn't do it so that state residents could avoid state taxes. They did it because some states, like New York, prohibited shipping from out of state wineries while allowing shipments from those in state. Funny thing is this lawsuit was brought about by a small Virginia winemaker who had been fighting this un-Constitutional impediment to interstate commerce. Meanwhile, Virginia has been up in arms about how to stem the growing tide of imports of garbage into its landfills from New York.
Nobody cares about how they treat tobacco taxes and shipments because very few farmers still continue to grow it in only a few states.
23
posted on
05/30/2005 12:41:56 PM PDT
by
lockjaw02
("The tragedy of life is what dies within a man while he still lives" --Albert Schweitzer)
To: lockjaw02
"They didn't do it so that state residents could avoid state taxes. They did it because some states, like New York, prohibited shipping from out of state wineries while allowing shipments from those in state. Funny thing is this lawsuit was brought about by a small Virginia winemaker who had been fighting this un-Constitutional impediment to interstate commerce. Meanwhile, Virginia has been up in arms about how to stem the growing tide of imports of garbage into its landfills from New York.
Nobody cares about how they treat tobacco taxes and shipments because very few farmers still continue to grow it in only a few states."
Anyway one slices it, Internet wine buyers can avoid state taxes.
Maybe only a few farmers grow tobacco, but millions use it. Tobacco and wine, two legal products, are not treated equally under the law.
To wink, wink, at minors buying alcohol on the Internet, then to raise the alarm they might do likewise with tobacco, is naught but a sham.
Frankly, I would rather take my chances with teenage second hand smoke, than a kid drunk on mind altering wine coming at me across the centerline at 100 MPH.
24
posted on
05/30/2005 3:43:45 PM PDT
by
Ursus arctos horribilis
("It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees!" Emiliano Zapata 1879-1919)
To: pepsionice
The cigarette tax in NY is $3.00 a pack.
25
posted on
06/02/2005 8:17:00 PM PDT
by
Collier
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