Posted on 09/03/2007 6:33:18 PM PDT by Wheee The People
Nebraska trying to collect back cigarette taxes
Monday, September 3, 2007 4:44 PM CDT
LINCOLN, Neb. - The state of Nebraska has sent letters to more than 500 residents telling them they owe taxes for cigarettes they bought through the mail or over the Internet.
One of them, Cleo Bell of Adams, doesn't think the state cigarette tax is a fair tax. "We are already taxed to death on cigarettes," he said.
The 74-year-old buys cigarettes four cartons at a time through the mail by calling an 800 number.
The seller didn't collect the state cigarette tax of 64 cents a pack, nor the sales tax, but the law requires Bell to report those purchases and pay those taxes.
But now the state is collecting them, based on reports from the seller.
In July the state sent letters to 112 people who owed a total of $175,000. State tax commissioner Doug Ewald says about $100,000 has been paid so far.
On Aug. 16, 406 Nebraskans who owed more than $100 in back cigarette taxes were sent state letters. By the middle of last week, about $40,000 had been paid of the $190,000 those people owe, Ewald said.
Responding to one of the letters, estate representatives for one of the cigarette buyers sent in a copy of his death certificate. Ewald said the listed cause of death was lung cancer.
Bell said he's hoping to file a class-action suit against the tax, and he said the state collection efforts were unfair to smokers.
Nebraska doesn't go to such lengths to collect the sales tax owed by people who buy other products through the mail, he said.
Federal law requires those who sell and ship cigarettes into states to report those sales to the states.
But there's no such requirement for other sales, so states don't have the same database for such collection efforts, Ewald said.
It doesn't cost much to collect the cigarette tax from individuals, he said, because the sales information comes free from the sellers.
"Just pennies for every dollar collected," Ewald said.
Every tax and taxing method is up for discussion; and please stop saying "they" in this context. The correct term is "we".
“You know the next thing will be going after all internet sales”
Absolutely correct.
Those who think this is only about tobacco, and will end with tobacco, are truly deluded.
Smokers are a ripe soft target to begin this kind of action with.
Everyone else will soon follow.
Is it really that hard to see?
We can discuss whether the law is just or too much but its not up for discussion whether the law exists or is enforceable.
Only for dimwits.
You were not my target on that post. You are an FR pioneer. Thank you sir. :^)
You got that right.
Exactly, the various states are working hard on collecting taxes from interstate transactions and these include multi-state pacts that require sharing of information gained from sellers with other states.
“You know the next thing will be going after all internet sales”
Absolutely correct.
Those who think this is only about tobacco, and will end with tobacco, are truly deluded.
Smokers are a ripe soft target to begin this kind of action with.
Everyone else will soon follow.
Is it really that hard to see?
Well worth repeating. It’s coming, and for those too blind to see now, they will when it’s too late.
Not many tax laws are enforceable without voluntary compliance, including the Internal Revenue Code.
What you are seeing here is that people are no longer "volunteering" to comply.
This is an honorable and patriotic thing, regardless of the service or commodity being taxed.
And be banned today?
And, that’s a shame. Well, we’ll see how it goes over when everyone who has used ebay in the last two-five years gets a big, fat tax bill. I’m sure pay-pal and the like will see no problems in handing over the information.
Well, with this they have a precedence, and a method, and everone seems to be applauding it.
I’m sure more than a few attitudes will change at a later date.
I see tax cheats getting caught. Patriots are those attempting to get redress through proper channels before resorting to anarchy. Tax cheats on the other hand are those looking for their own selfish needs while wrapping a flag around themselves for protection or worse hiding behind the weasel excuse that everybody does it.
“Patriots are those attempting to get redress through proper channels before resorting to anarchy.”
A few of us have already been there.
Why do you think I have the attitude, and distrust of the government that I do?
I didn’t develop it just because I wanted something “new and exciting” in my life.
I went through a sales tax nightmare with the “great” state of OheilO.
Only after I had proved my innocence on NUMEROUS occasions, and sent in many certified notarized letters pertaining to the matter,along with all other necessary documents, did I get any redress. This took THREE and a half years. I endured many threats, and liens. I did not back down. And, I wouldn’t back down. They WERE wrong.
They caused me a major headache, over THEIR incompetence and mistakes.
If this all makes me a rotten tax-cheat, then, so be it.
The power to tax is the power to destroy, to that, I can attest.
What a great pic. Ahh, those were the days when you could drink and smoke and do all sorts of unhealthy stuff.
Careful! Booze is cheap in NJ compared to PA so the PA cops have decided to track you going across the bridge into NJ. If you come back within about an hour, they find some impossible-to-defend pretext ("inattentive driving" was the favorite in the 80's) to pull you over and search your trunk.
What happens after they search your trunk?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.