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.
“I avoid all taxes I can and if you don’t, then you are an idiot”
Nah, that would just make you a good subject, er,uh, I mean citizen.
You got that right Elk!!! Maybe ice cream eaters will be next. Maybe there should be a ban on those old hand crank freezers.
LOL!!
He might have a good case. The sales tax law in many States specifically says that sellers have to collect the sales tax from consumers, which the State then collects from the sellers. The law cannot state that the State can collect the tax from “whoever” they can tax in a transaction.
And if the court rules that the State can collect the tax from consumers, then sellers are no longer under any obligation to collect the tax themselves, as long as they file a record of the taxation for the sale with the State. Let the State then send out bills to all consumers for every transaction that they make.
But the State cannot have it both ways.
What is your point?
What a look of contentment though. Ever seen a dog so ugly it’s cute? Ever hear the old saying that beauty is only skin deep, but ugly is clear to the bone?
Can you make a graphic up that does have camel or marlboro on the tubes?
I make my own, so I’d be much more greatly impacted by this if the tubes said “El Rey”.
Those evil cigarettes, they must have been the cause, not his working 40 years in a coal mine...
On a more logical note, I don't know what the purpose of sending in the guys death certificate was, nor for including it in the story. It's totally irrelevant.
I wish these stupid states that put such an effort to collect tobacco taxes would put the same effort to collect income taxes from illegal aliens.
You are correct. All the states are going to try to find bandits who haven’t paid their due tax on cigarettes because the states have said they rely on this tax to pay for all their programs. Ironically, the Feds gave states millions for smoking cessation classes, where has the money gone?
This whole state after residents who order on line cigarettes needs to be a class action lawsuit because the word on-line purchase is the key. You know the next thing will be going after all internet sales. Must protect our internet purchases at all cost! Yes?
Welcome back to FR.
Friggin money grubbers.
Just curious, how did you manage to sign up tomorrow?
They can and they do. The states have two laws when it come to taxing transactions. They tax the seller and when the seller is not taxable they levy the tax on the user. This is old established law and it is not really up for discussion.
Such a nice obedient lemming you are.
It's a perfectly conservative thing to do when the tax one is trying to avoid is an unfair and illegal tax, implemented because of pressure from special interest groups who can't mind their own business.
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