Posted on 05/28/2005 10:17:17 PM PDT by neverdem
ALBANY, May 26 - As they move to thwart the illegal trade of cigarettes over the Internet, state officials have joined colleagues from around the nation in persuading the major credit card companies to stop processing payments for online cigarette sales. Additionally, the state has enacted a law prohibiting the shipment of cigarettes to its residents and banned private carriers, like FedEx, from shipping cigarettes.
But as state officials fight illegal online cigarette sales, one operation is not falling into line - the United States Postal Service, which officials say delivers the bulk of illegally purchased cigarettes to New Yorkers.
The Postal Service, citing concerns about the privacy of the mail and wary of putting postal clerks in the position of deciding which packages to accept and which to reject, is resisting the growing calls that it stop shipping cigarettes.
Its stance is exasperating law enforcement officials. "It is outrageous that the federal government - through the United States Postal Service - is knowingly acting as the delivery arm for these criminal enterprises," New York's attorney general, Eliot Spitzer, said in a statement.
The role of the post office in shipping illegally sold cigarettes is also attracting attention across the nation. Last month the National Association of Attorneys General asked the Postal Service to "adopt a firm policy prohibiting transportation of packages that the carrier knows or reasonably should know contains cigarettes sold illegally on the Internet." In Oregon, an online cigarette seller was charged in January with unlawful distribution of cigarettes and racketeering; the post office was not charged but was named in the indictment as part of the racketeering enterprise.
--snip--
Postal officials say that they are committed to fighting illegal activities conducted through the mail, but complain that their hands are tied.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
--snip--
They note that Priority Mail, which officials say is most frequently used to ship cigarettes, cannot be inspected without a search warrant or the consent of either the sender or the recipient.
To get into this investigation of cigarette mailings...means not only a search warrant, but additional manpower. The Post Office folks are in a serious competition with FEDEX and UPS...and really can't afford to add more onto costs. I can understand the issue at hand...but the state has pushed enough taxes onto a product...in the same fashion as England did in 1760-1770 with tea import to the US. We are now at the point where people are willing to do illegal (at least with a stupid law) movement of items. That should be a hint of more things to come.
No problemo, just label the evil weed as "Wine." The supremes just gave the OK for internet vino sales.
No second hand smokey, but wino drunken drivers oka-dokay?
I just want to say as a citizen of New York- that I am just honored my state government cares this much about my health! I mean it's not like this is about money or anything! lalalal
There is nothing illegal about those cigarettes. If the buyer doesn't pay local taxes on something bought in interstate commerce, that's a local problem, not a federal one. The states, in their hunger for money, raised the taxes so high that out-of-state purchases can save a lot of money on a legal substance. Now they want the federal government, and private industry, to collect those ridiculously high taxes for them, for free.
The least the states could do is offer a cut of the tax money to the companies that snitch for them.
I don't smoke, but my freedom from stupid taxation is at stake here, too. Governments can no more repeal the laws of the marketplace than they can the laws of physics.
In NYC, state, city and federal taxex amounts to $35/carton, or $3.50 per pack.
You say that like it's a bad thing. The problem was that some stupid law was passed against it for some reason long ago.
There are at least a five hundred different wineries and vineyards in the US and previously the only way to get some of their wine was to either drive there yourself and pay for it, or find it at a wine and liquor store that orders it for you and then pay different mark-up for the different hands it has to pass thru.
I think this is simply the Gov't getting the hell out of the way of the local business.
How dare you even insinuate that Eliot Spitzer and these other high minded politicians have any intention other than to protect their citizens' health and lives so that they can collect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid for as long as possible. /sarcasm
FReepmail me if you want on or off my New York ping list.
I actually met Spitzer.
The national GOP should be scared.
The guy may be full of BS, but no matter what, he talks a damn good game.
He gave me a lecture about how NYS taxes are to high and how they have to be lowered to attract capital.
Realize that he doesn't believe in supply side economics and then realize he knows people do, and then undersand, he knows how to lie and get ahead.
This guy is alot more dangerious then Hillary Clinton, he knows conservatism, and how to talk it, and how to lie about it, and then, how to win, he is more popular (according to his own internal polls) with republicans then he is with democrats.
If he really wanted to, he would beat Pataki, in a primary.
NY looks hopeless.
When things look good, they vote liberal, when things go bad, they vote GOP.
Its not that hopeless, its just idiotic.
The fact that Spitzer is more popular with republicans then democrats does scare me though.
He is also an often invited guest of the "Federalist" society.
You don't give a damn about my health. It's the money. And you're proving it with these tactics.
Ha ha! They can't do it. Smokers vote and the ones that don't vote would register instantly.
I doubt any cares about the smoker's voting block. The taxes they pay on tobacco however...
Think of it this way: "Oh, you voted for the cigarette tax? I'm voting for your opponent and so are all of my friends." See?
Unfortunately, they're able to add whatever they need because - unlike private industry - the USPS has an endless trough from which to feed.
If New York just cut their ciggie tax down to size they could fix the problem immediately.
I quit smoking, cold turkey, a little more than two years ago. Food DOES NOT taste better. Anyhoo - a state cannot prevent interstate commerce.
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