HR1676 - shipping untaxed tobacco to be a crime

**ninjapuff** · 05-17-2009, 07:49 AM

Search Results - THOMAS (Library of Congress)

With the recent tax hikes on tobacco, more and more people are ordering tobacco products over the internet. Well, the government just can't accept that... big tobacco needs restrictive laws so they can continue to compete, and the government needs their tax revenue. They didn't raise tobacco taxes for nothing, and this bill is their answer.

I don't know how this bill would effect e-cigarettes (if it passes)... I guess it depends on whether they get defined as tobacco products or not. If this bill passes, I predict there will be a big rise in the number of people growing their own tobacco, as well as black market sales. Then they will try to ban growing tobacco somehow. I'm starting to wonder if all of this demonization of tobacco has just been a scheme to raise more tax revenue from the beginning.

**Fox3** · 05-17-2009, 08:03 AM

Yep, greedy people getting desperate, I expected it. With one party running everything there are no longer any checks and balances. Looks to me like they don't think they will win another election (assuming votes really count anymore) so they are shoveling for all they can get while they can.

The result of oppressive taxation and laws are that things get driven underground and create black markets, expect it to get worse. The idiot / greedy pols just never get it and are so out of touch with the common people it is just pathetic.

Respect the law? Less and less do as they see the stupidity of oppressive government pandering to the highest bidders :-(. Of course they know that we are all so stupid and incompetent that they MUST take care of us from cradle to grave (and extract max $$$ and power in the process). Spit...

I've had non-smokers come up to me and ask how I feel with the gov raping smokers more and more and constantly. Not sure what that says, but I find it interesting.

**ArizonaVapin** · 05-17-2009, 08:11 AM

I wonder if crime has gone up as a result. Here in Arizona a 2-pack-a-day smoker has to pay about $15 for their habit. On the east coast it could be over $20. At crack-like prices like that, there has to be a spike in petty theft. Just a thought...

**WendyM** · 05-17-2009, 11:22 AM

ArizonaVapin, I've had the same question myself. Here in Oregon the price is hovering just below $5 for premium brands. My husband and I gave up smoking the boxed cigarettes and took to using a cigarette machine to stuff the filtered tubes in order to save money, then with the new tobacco tax a $24 one pound bag of cigarette tobacco spiked to $70+ over night.

**Palmetto** · 05-17-2009, 12:37 PM

Originally Posted by ninjapuff

Search Results - THOMAS (Library of Congress)

With the recent tax hikes on tobacco, more and more people are ordering tobacco products over the internet. Well, the government just can't accept that... big tobacco needs restrictive laws so they can continue to compete, and the government needs their tax revenue. They didn't raise tobacco taxes for nothing, and this bill is their answer.

I don't know how this bill would effect e-cigarettes (if it passes)... I guess it depends on whether they get defined as tobacco products or not. If this bill passes, I predict there will be a big rise in the number of people growing their own tobacco, as well as black market sales. Then they will try to ban growing tobacco somehow. I'm starting to wonder if all of this demonization of tobacco has just been a scheme to raise more tax revenue from the beginning.

Some things to note: this bill appears dead, but could be incorporated into some other bill. Secondly, it was introduced by NY Reps -- it's all about collecting the state and local taxes that are driving folks out of NY. Thirdly, it has "limited applicability" to Indian tribes, and lastly, no, it doesn't appear to apply to e-cigs (yet). It does however, apply to "smokeless tobacco."

**IntoxiNation** · 05-17-2009, 01:30 PM

This has been going on for year, it just looks like they are getting more serious. Back in 2001-2002, I used to order my analogs from Sweden. They basically had all the big brands found in the U.S. and a carton cost me less than $15 with shipping, so I would end up ordering 10 cartons at a time. The government put a stop to that - greedy bastards.

**Fox3** · 05-17-2009, 05:49 PM

Originally Posted by ArizonaVapin

I wonder if crime has gone up as a result. Here in Arizona a 2-pack-a-day smoker has to pay about $15 for their habit. On the east coast it could be over $20. At crack-like prices like that, there has to be a spike in petty theft. Just a thought...

It is

. Don't leave a pack in your car that is visible or you will be out (at least) a window. Cops don't even bother with property crime anymore other than to give you a number to give to your assurance company.

Pols never get it but they do get blatant about their greed the more they get, the more they have to have.

Goes right along with them getting soggy shorts by terrorizing the populace over matters they have no business in :-(.

**TDM** · 05-17-2009, 05:53 PM

Going to be cheaper to smoke crack or ......... before long.

**Fox3** · 05-17-2009, 06:42 PM

Originally Posted by truckdrivingmouse

Going to be cheaper to smoke crack or ......... before long.

Then the gov will like you. Gets them funding and prestige for "Helping those with real life problems". Builds bureaucracies too! Good tear jerker and makes the paranoid shovel up (usually to no benefit to those paying for or using those "services").

But smokers (e or not) are generally productive and fleecing them gives more money to the graft train.

Yes, I have lost all confidence in my government. The robber barons of the 1500s were more in touch with the average person than anyone in almost any gov anymore. Never associate with anyone other than others of the political class.

All one party == runaway train :-(.