Posted on 12/05/2014 7:21:33 AM PST by Citizen Zed
Did New York kill black market cigarette dealer Eric Garner over lost cigarette tax revenue?
Yes.
His was a senseless killing, of course. Garner shouldn't have died. He shouldn't have resisted arrest. And he shouldn't have been choked by New York police, who inhumanely ignored his pleas for help and used a procedure that violated department rules.
But it seems to me that Garner's death is being absorbed by the usual litany of race and politics, diluted and obscured, so we have difficulty seeing another explanation for what happened here.
Garner died because he dared interfere with government reach and government muscle that didn't want to lose tax revenue to independent operators.
In Chicago, loosies are sold for 50 cents each, or two for $1. The Tribune reported in November 2013 that Chicago police had arrested 781 people for selling loosies so far that year and issued 490 citations at $1,000 each.
Chicago has the highest cigarette taxes in the nation; with a $1.18 cent-per-pack city tax, plus a $3-per-pack Cook County tax and a $1.98-per-pack state tax. Add the federal cigarette tax of $1.01 and the total comes to $7.17 per pack.
But New York is second, with combined federal, city, county and state cigarette taxes at $6.86 per pack.
When highly addictive legal drugs are taxed at higher and higher rates, the tax increases are invitations for independent dealers to emerge.
"Some politician also had to direct the police to say, 'Hey, we want you arresting people for selling a loose cigarette,'" Sen. Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican, said the other day. "And for someone to die over breaking that law, there really is no excuse for it. But I do blame the politicians; we've put our police in a difficult situation with bad laws."
(Excerpt) Read more at my.chicagotribune.com ...
After HE stupidly ignored the police command to put his hands behind his back, choosing, rather to say this ends now.
The Founders would have NO idea who these bands of roving blue-clad "warriors" were.
Yep, it was choosing to resist arrest that got him killed.
"Obey."
Why aren’t illegal sale of single cigarettes just handled with a ticket like overtime parking? Sending a phalanx of cops to arrest a guy for selling single cigarettes seems like a total waste of police resources that could better be used to fight serious crime.
Back around 1776, there were a whole bunch of people who ignored government commands.
Five cops standing there, and you just refuse to obey the lead cop and just play the regular game of handcuffs and getting bailed out by your wife. Go look around a regular town in America and ask yourself if five cops were within twenty feet of you and determined to arrest you....why would you say no?
Fair enough, but I don't see Gardner as a patriot.
Organized crime.....when you compete against organized crime in the city of New York the politicians, by way of the cops, are going to mess you up..!
We seem to be moving toward a political system where only the rich will be able to enjoy the pleasures of life... Soon only the rich will own homes...and only the rich will drive cars... Everything else will belong to the GOVERNMENT and the elitist who own it..!!!
Land of the free...home of the brave....I guess the joke is on us... :(
Exactly. Besides, if you feel you're being unfairly arrested....well, that's what court is for.
The guy had been arrested 30 times before. He knew hte routine yet chose to fight instead.
Standing up for his right to peacefully make a living by supplying a product people want. Nope, nothing patriotic about that.
So, it's ok for me to sell bottles of beer on the street corner? How about cocaine? Lotsa people what those products.
If the selling of loosies wasn't illegal, as foolish as that seems, then I would agree.
Can't he be a patriot by changing the law?
Peacefully?
Nothing peaceful about Garner at all. He was a petty theif with over 30 previous arrests. He acted violently (that mean not peacefully) when arrested. And he died as a result.
silly question, someone bought a whole pack of cigarettes.
They paid a tax then, why are loose cigarette sells limited?
I know the pack has a tax stamp on it, but this is pretty stupid. How does a bar sell a single beer? Single glass of wine?
Unfortunate this comes on the heels of the Ferguson decision. It sort of delegitimizes the Ferguson grand jury decision.
The choking case in my mind was not quite murder, but definitely not innocent.
It seems to me that the cop, faced with passive aggression like he was, reverted to physical methods to regain control of the situation. We only see it because the unfortunate man was in an unhealthy condition and died. Had he not died this would have amounted to a short 1 paragraph boxed story buried in news paper.
Yet it is the very nature of police to control encounters. We just need to pick smarter police.
It's all about taxes and government domination.
The government can kill you if you don't obey their demands.
Today it was about a recalcitrant citizen selling "loosies", tomorrow it will be who?
What do we do when the "sheepdog" starts killing sheep for minor infractions?
NYC social policy for 14 yr olds:
Here’s your plan B pill kid (without your parents knowledge/consent), just don’t wash it down with a big soda or smoke a cig after sex....
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