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Internet Smoke Shops Lure Tax-Averse Cigarette Buyers
Newhouse News Service ^

Posted on 07/31/2002 7:51:30 PM PDT by RCW2001

Internet Smoke Shops Lure Tax-Averse Cigarette Buyers

By HARLAN SPECTOR

c.2002 Newhouse News Service

As state after cash-strapped state slaps hefty tax increases on cigarettes, smokers are flocking to Internet sites where they can buy tax-free.

Hundreds of Internet smoke shops have come online in recent years, offering a vast selection of premium and discount brands and the enticement of tax-free smoking.

Anti-tobacco activists complain that Internet vendors are unregulated, making it easy for kids to buy online.

Meanwhile, some states are looking for ways to collect the excise taxes cigarette smokers are dodging. Massachusetts and other states have sought customer names from Internet vendors, but they have little leverage to force the issue.

The Ohio Department of Taxation asks a handful of out-of-state vendors for customer lists every year.

"We haven't had very good response," says department spokesman Gary Gudmundson.

"None of these (vendors) report," says Gary Kirschner, chief executive of eSmokes.com. Kirschner says his Internet smoke shop now has 450 competitors online, compared with 30 when his company started in 1999.

"Eighty percent are Indian reservations," he says. "They never report anything to anybody." Sales of cigarettes on Indian reservations are exempt from state and local taxes by law.

Demand is greatest from high-tax states like New York and New Jersey, which levy the nation's highest smoking tax -- $1.50 per pack.

Kirschner says eSmokes also is seeing a jump in customers from Pennsylvania, which raised its tax to $1 a pack on July 15.

New York tried to outlaw Internet and mail-order cigarette sales, but a federal judge struck down the provision last year.

Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass., is drafting legislation in Congress to prohibit Internet sales to minors and require that cyberstores be licensed in every state in which they do business.

Age verification at dirtcheapcig.com is typical of Web vendors: "Click here to enter only if your (sic) are 18 or older".

Dr. Rob Crane, a Columbus, Ohio, family physician and anti-smoking activist, says Internet sales threaten efforts to reduce smoking rates with higher taxes.

"It ought to be illegal to sell across state borders," says Crane, who is also part of a campaign to raise the smoking age to 21.

The 55-cent-per-pack tax in his state, where adult and teen smoking rates are among the highest in the nation, may not be enough to drive large numbers of smokers to Internet vendors. Shipping charges keep Internet prices in the ballpark with brick-and-mortar retailers.

Tobacco dealers dispute evidence that higher taxes discourage smoking. They say the tax burden only shifts dependence to low-cost brands and out-of-state vendors.

"It's not people giving up the habit," says Joshua Sanders of the Ohio Council of Retail Merchants.

"They're just going somewhere else."

(Harlan Spector is a reporter for The Plain Dealer of Cleveland. He can be contacted at hspector@plaind.com.)


TOPICS: Extended News; Government; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: pufflist
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To: usconservative
Amen brother - I'm with you!!!!

21 posted on 07/31/2002 8:53:41 PM PDT by giznort
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To: *puff_list
.
22 posted on 07/31/2002 8:58:48 PM PDT by Libertarianize the GOP
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To: RCW2001
Good! Its time to put the government of tyranny out of business! I hope and pray that they will receive even LESS money than before those abusive increases.
23 posted on 07/31/2002 9:15:25 PM PDT by brat
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To: ikka
It ought to be illegal to be a doctor in the USA without having a working knowledge of the US Constitution. 8 posted on 7/31/02 8:03 PM Pacific by ikka

LOL! Or without being able to speak English.

24 posted on 07/31/2002 9:31:29 PM PDT by HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity
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To: PJ-Comix
Thanks!
25 posted on 07/31/2002 9:41:25 PM PDT by BJungNan
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To: RCW2001
"Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass., is drafting legislation in Congress to prohibit Internet sales to minors and require that cyberstores be licensed in every state in which they do business."

Remember to freep this legislation if it comes to a vote! I'm sooooo sick of our government telling us to wear seat belts, not to smoke etc. Is this communism or what?? I'm also enjoying those cyber cigs!! Makes me feel good to outsmart this state & their damn tax increases!

26 posted on 07/31/2002 9:45:33 PM PDT by blondee123
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To: goldstategop
Yep. And guess what -- This whole article is quoting so many morons I'll have to pass on hitting each "point" they made till later.

But you can bet your bottom dollar they will leverage tax laws through under guise of anti-tobacco legislation for ALL internet sales eventually. Frcking "liberals" are all about 'choice' as long as it's their choice.

The sad and honest truth, the biggest anti-smoking movement prior to ours was Nazi Germany, so I don't expect any of them should be offended when we call them Nazis.

27 posted on 07/31/2002 9:49:25 PM PDT by Freedom4US
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To: VA Advogado
WOW! I just ordered and can't wait to see how it works out! Have you had problems or has everything gone smoothly? This is hands down the best price I've seen anywhere!
28 posted on 07/31/2002 9:54:14 PM PDT by brat
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To: PJ-Comix
I'm not a smoker. How much do packs normally sell for?

Depends on location.

A pack contains twenty cigarettes. A carton is ten packs. Smokes purchased by the carton are cheaper per cigarette than packs purchased individually.

In Colorado (which has "average" prices nationwide), a pack of premium-brand cigarettes go for around $3.75/pack. Cartons can be around $30 --sometimes less if stores have them on sale. (Premium brands are the non-generic, "popular" brands like Marlboros, Camels, Winstons, Salems, Benson & Hedges, etc...) Generic or "discount" brands like Basics and Dorals can go for under $3 per pack. Many cigarette manufactures run promotions like "buy two packs get one free" to try and compete.

I almost always buy whatever brand is on sale or part of a promotion.

New York City is currently making headlines as having the highest price for smokes-- $7+ per pack. In Ohio, it is a felony to posess more than $60 worth of smokes that do not contain an Ohio tax stamp (cartons run for $40 in Ohio but people have been fleeing to Kentucky where they are just over $20).

Hope this helps.

29 posted on 07/31/2002 9:57:40 PM PDT by Drew68
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To: RCW2001
This almost makes me want to start smoking.
30 posted on 07/31/2002 10:07:54 PM PDT by Lee_Atwater
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To: brat
I have been ordering smokes off the net for at least 3 years.
the only problem, was when I didn't place the next order soon enough.
31 posted on 07/31/2002 10:08:11 PM PDT by krizzy
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To: VA Advogado
http://yesmoke.com/eng/index.asp

That's where I purchase mine... Camel 100s for around 16-17 dollars (depending on shipping). They're fast too.

32 posted on 07/31/2002 10:08:30 PM PDT by grimalkin
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To: brat
Have you had problems or has everything gone smoothly?

I've ordered from them several times and never had any problems. I usually get them in less than one week.

33 posted on 07/31/2002 10:10:25 PM PDT by grimalkin
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To: brat
Yes, everything goes smoothly. The thing to remember, though - you aren't getting USA cigarettes per se. They are manufactured under license in Europe, say. They don't taste as strong to me, but they are far better than the el cheapo brands. Avoid Chinese smokes. The Colombian "bronco" brand at 10 bucks per carton aren't too bad, but kind of rough.
34 posted on 07/31/2002 10:17:03 PM PDT by Freedom4US
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To: Freedom4US
"They don't taste as strong to me".........Oh dear...taste is everything, which is why I can't do generics. Good to know they're exceptable tho....$14.95 for Camels and only $2.oo for priority shipping is fantastic!
35 posted on 07/31/2002 10:20:12 PM PDT by brat
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To: brat
Camels are my brand as well. Gonna have to get me some at that price. Puffing away as I type.
36 posted on 07/31/2002 10:24:25 PM PDT by seeker41
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To: seeker41
LOL THANKS ALL!
37 posted on 07/31/2002 10:25:23 PM PDT by brat
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To: PJ-Comix
I buy Basic and pay almost $2.50 a pack. I have got to stop smoking and start eating lots of Chocolate!
38 posted on 07/31/2002 10:30:00 PM PDT by dixie sass
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To: VA Advogado
The real bargin is found here:

http://yesmoke.com/eng/index.asp


Holy sh**! I've been smoking for 18 years and never paid that low a price. Are they reliable? Is the fact that they're overseas a problem legally? I've never bought smokes online before. I guess I'm afraid one day I'll get a bill in the mail from the state for all the "back taxes" I owe.

I was on vacation in Missouri (Lake of the Ozarks) just last week, and paid $26 for Marlboro lights. Here in Illinois, they're about $10 more. Like a fool, I only bought one carton and it's long gone. Dammit.
39 posted on 07/31/2002 10:45:23 PM PDT by jenny65
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To: RCW2001
"It ought to be illegal to sell across state borders," says Crane

Just what part of free trade between states so specifically addressed in the Constitution does this assh*le not understand?

Nam Vet

40 posted on 07/31/2002 10:51:35 PM PDT by Nam Vet
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