[Argus]

Do the counterfeit tax stamps have Rob Reiner's picture on them?

[Jonathon Spectre]

Welcome to the War on (Some) Drugs v2.0.

[Commander8]

It's going to be like Moonshiners vs Revenooers all over again.

[AzJP]

I sure have seen an increase in folks rolling their own (legal tobacco) and I'm half way between Nevada and Mexico!
rp

[Bonaparte]

"The combined loss, state officials say, is well in excess of $200 million a year."

Not enough. Gotta get the loss up to a billion. Then they'll have no choice but to either repeal the tax increases to stimulate sales/revenue or lose even more money in fruitless enforcement efforts.

Of course, the legislature is goofy enough to make smoking completely illegal in California, even in one's own home. I wouldn't put it past them for one a minute.

[theoriginalgriff]

alltogether now: let's bring out this four sylable word and learn how to say it right.....pro hi bi tion. One man's obstacle is another man's opportunity.

[Newbomb Turk]

The next step is to tax them right at the manufacture point thus bypassing the abality of smuglers to profit while maintaining the governments monopoly on screwing smokers.

[uncbob]

Well the WOD hasn't created enough criminals now the smokers are next

[Great Dane]

Serves them right.

[eggman]

In California, a black and gray market in tobacco products already was costing the state an estimated $50 million when voters approved Proposition 10, an initiative that more than doubled the tobacco tax rates as well as more that doubling the amount of money that can be made in the black and gray Davis market.

The government's usual reaction is to increase enforcement, which eats into the tax revenues and further harrasses the law-abiding citizens who are paying the taxes and the businesses that have to collect them. The only real winners are the crooks and the government employees that the crooks pay off.

[Madame Dufarge]

"They're trying to explain what they see as an unusual drop in consumption data by saying there hasn't been a change in smoking prevalence and there has been a huge change in the amount people are smoking," said Dr. John Pierce, a professor of cancer prevention at the University of California, San Diego.

Smoking Californians should start lobbying immediately to have Professor Ostrich put in charge of all tobacco consumption "studies" in the state. He has to make the assertion that there's been a "huge change" in the amount people are smoking to validate the effectiveness of "cancer prevention" experts."

In the meantime, the taxes keep going higher, more people find a way to avoid them, and eventually the tobacco tax dollars the state gets diminishes to a dribble.

Dr. Pierce said he found no evidence of a significant black market in a massive cigarette consumption study he recently completed for the state. But he said his data was collected in 1999, and did not attempt to measure any counterfeiting, which was discovered in February 2000.

He's probably completely unaware of Internet sales, too. More tax dollars down the black hole known as "academia." How do you do a "study" on tobacco consumption trends without factoring in the black market?

[Madame Dufarge]

The sophisticated frauds,

No, it's the state perpetuating the fraud, when it onerously taxes one segment of the population for engaging in a legal activity in a supposedly "free" country.

designed to dodge the state's relatively steep tariff on cigarettes and other tobacco products, since have turned up in 17 counties and investigators fear more are out there.

"Relatively" steep? Compared to what? A 200% tax?

[Wolfie]

Tsk, tsk...breaking the law to get their fix. Have these people no shame?

[yoe]

A little History here is important for the coming election.

http://www.cato.org/dailys/8-30-96.html