HR1676 - shipping untaxed tobacco to be a crime

[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.

 

[Fox3]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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 .......s.

 

[Fox3]

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]

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

 

[Fox3]

Going to be cheaper to smoke crack or marijuana 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 :-(.

 

[stevejo]

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

Funny, I have a friend that is a non (cig) smoker but smokes way too much pot, and he made this exact point to me the other day.

 

[IntoxiNation]

Funny, I have a friend that is a non (cig) smoker but smokes way too much pot, and he made this exact point to me the other day.

There was a city in Ohio a few years back (may have been Akron) that passed a smoking ordinance. It was $150 fine for violating it, yet if you get caught smoking a joint it's only a $125 fine. The local DJs were having all kinds of fun with that one.

 

[ninjapuff]

It looks like this bill was fast-tracked. It was passed by the House on the 21st: GovTrack: House Vote On Passage: H.R. 1676: PACT Act

It's now in the Senate as S. 1147: S. 1147: A bill to prevent tobacco smuggling, to ensure the collection of all tobacco taxes, and for other... (GovTrack.us)

 

[TropicalBob]

This bill is a killer for harm reduction alternatives available primarily or exclusively by Internet order. Let's hope it never escapes committee hearings.

 

[LaceyUnderall]

Funny, I have a friend that is a non (cig) smoker but smokes way too much pot, and he made this exact point to me the other day.

speaking of which... does anyone know of any good studies that may have been done that show with the decrease of cig smoking an increase of drug usage of the smokeable kind: crack, marijuana and ....?

it would be interesting to see if smokers who are quitting due to the cost and availability and not for health reasons, are possibly switching to other alternatives.

 

[CharlesMaples]

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...

already has been happening here Cigarette thefts are way up

 

[jim420]

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

...and probably lower penalties.

And the above is the exact reason I vape and quit analogs. I won't let the barstewards win.

 

[jim420]

Funny, I have a friend that is a non (cig) smoker but smokes way too much pot, and he made this exact point to me the other day.

Yeah...I have one of those "friends", too. "Hey Doc, my 'friend' has this problem."

 

[ellanceo]

speaking of which... does anyone know of any good studies that may have been done that show with the decrease of cig smoking an increase of drug usage of the smokeable kind: crack, marijuana and ....?

it would be interesting to see if smokers who are quitting due to the cost and availability and not for health reasons, are possibly switching to other alternatives.

You are kidding right? Cigarettes in general go hand-in-hand with all of those drugs you just mentioned, and I can't think of a single person in my large-numbered group of friends, who all happen to use, that would actually consider that an option.

Maybe we just live backwards up north, but no one up here is going to buy more pot/crack/.... instead of buying cigarettes. It's not as economical as you would think, and there isn't much logic there health-wise.

On the contrary, I'm SURE there is a study out there somewhere. If you find it, do share!

 

[dawnmarie]

here in vegas you get govt help if your addicted to herion but cigs you get nothing but tax hikes.......

they even give addicts money as inw elfare.

 

[Faethe]

Do any of you all think this will relate to snus? Like if you get them from Sweden? I know there is an import limit of 2 cartons before you get taxed. Unless this changes that?