February 18, 2005
Government Intrusion
- Smokers who have bought cigarettes online are starting to get notices from the state to pay up the $2-per-pack cigarette tax they avoided.
A Canton woman who got a state bill last weekend for $2,500 in back cigarette taxes is among the bulk cigarette buyers learning that avoiding taxes -- the state can go back up to four years -- can be expensive in the long run.
The state's lost tax dollars were estimated at $1.7 million from just one of 13 online cigarette retailers.
In a bold push to catch tax scofflaws, the state Treasury Department has subpoenaed the online retailers in other states to get the names, addresses and purchase records of Michiganders who bought cigarettes from them. In virtually all cases, such sales do not include the cigarette tax that must be paid to the state, regardless of who the seller is or how much is purchased.
So far, the sweep has resulted in letters sent to 533 people the state says bought from just the one online seller.
If the government of Michigan were really interested in stopping people from smoking (as all good governments claim), they would have sent these people "How to Stop Smoking" packets or something.
Instead, they reveal themselves to be what we all knew... just out for the money.
And how long till we all get subpeonaed for purchases on eBay or Amazon or anyone of hundreds or thousands of online retailers?
We're from the government, and here to help. Posted by AlexC at February 18, 2005 1:46 PM
It's not really a matter of efficacy. People who think that taxes should be used to control our behavior won't change because it works or it doesn't.
That said, it's hard to feel sorry for people who sent Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow to the U.S. Senate.
Posted by: jk at February 18, 2005 2:32 PM | What do you think? [1]