Unless Garner was going out of state or stealing the packs of cigarettes he paid the tax for them.
If so then are cigarettes going to be treated the same as money and taxed every time they change hands?
There was a published interview with another illegal cigarettes seller in the same area where Garner was selling. He made reference to going to NC about once a month, picking up a couple cartons here, couple there, till he had what he needed to sell on the streets of Staten Island. He paid @ $5-6/pack, sold them for $8-9 (a 33% discount vs store bought in NYC. Made a nice little profit for himself.
You can’t find cheaper cigarettes till you get to parts of VA and NC. All the states N of DC are high tax, if not quite as high as NY.
The bodega owner in front of whose store he was selling said he sells maybe 3 cartons a month at full price!