[SheLion]

Individuals can report suspected Pennsylvania cigarette tax violations by calling the Cigarette Tax Enforcement Unit at (717) 783-4649.

Does anyone have any idea how they can enforce this, short of going door-to-door? Cigarettes come in brown unmarked wrappers. The only ones that could turn someone in would be the postman or the UPS guy. Right? Or the Post Master. What does anyone think?

[Japedo]

More from the Updated TIPS website... I'm not really sure how to take this.. I sense a "LOOP" hole somehow...Could be from the shipping end? Dunno if you agree... One thing IS for sure.. I don't trust any TIPS program!!!

INDUSTRIES

Industries interested in participating will be given printed materials on how to contact the reporting center, and would in turn provide information and any training to their workers directly. Many industries already provide this type of information as part of their security and job training.

Operation TIPS would offer its hotline service to workers involved in the transportation, trucking, shipping, maritime, and mass transit industries. Industry associatio ns and groups in these areas will be invited to receive information about the hotline so their workers can participate in the program if they so choose. Other industry associations involved in the above-mentioned industries could also seek participation by contacting the Department of Justice.

At the outset of the program, the Department of Justice planned to engage the postal and utility industries to participate because their workers maintain regular public routes in the communities they serve, putting them in a unique position to recognize potentially dangerous activity along transportation routes and in public places. In addition, the inclusion of postal workers and utility workers made sense because they have been identified as targets for terrorism. Postal workers in New Jersey and Washington, D.C. were victims of the anthrax terrorist attacks last year, and postal workers across the country were affected by the recent pipe bomb attacks. As attac ks on utility plants and water systems could affect the public health and safety of millions of people, these facilities have long been considered prime targets of domestic and international terrorism. The Department never intended that workers calling the hotline would report on anything other than publicly observable activities. However, given the concerns raised during the program development phase about safeguarding against all possibilities of invasion of individual privacy, the Department of Justice has decided that the hotline number will not be shared with any workers, including postal and utility workers, whose work puts them in contact with homes and private property.

[abner]

If Customs opens your package before it gets to you, they can report you to the state.

[Who dat?]

Does anyone have any idea how they can enforce this, short of going door-to-door?

They have a couple of options. First they can try to get records from the companies selling the cigarettes that are being delivered to PA. It can get complicated, especially if it is a company that operates on an Indian reservation.

Another option is to go after the companies that deliver them. Usually that would be UPS or FedEx, but EVERY delivery company that I know of will cooperate with law enforcement. They’d tell them that illegal cigarettes are being shipped from this company and being delivered into our state in an attempt to circumvent tax laws. Now tell us where deliveries from that company have been made in PA. Usually cigarettes/booze require a signature so there will be a delivery record with your signature on it.

The problem with that is the shipping label of a package from that company does not usually describe the contents – just that it doesn’t contain hazardous materials or prohibited items, etc. So you could always just say you ordered some non-cigarette item, or only one carton.

At that point they’d probably note the address and request that packages to that address (shipped from that company) be intercepted next time. They’d open it and see that it did indeed contain 10 cartons of cigarettes, tape it back up and have an officer posing as a driver deliver it and get the signature then they’d have you.

They routinely do that type of thing regarding items purchased with stolen credit card numbers. I’d think they’d have enough to do without spending a lot of time doing this unless you were ordering a ton of cigarettes.