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by gilster
on Tue May 06, 2008 8:45 am |
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http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1210062662307540.xml&coll=2
Online cigarette buyers hit with state tax bills
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
John Horton
Plain Dealer Reporter
The state is smoking out Ohio smokers who evaded cigarette taxes by shopping online between July and March.
Nearly 5,500 buyers should expect a bill for unpaid excise and use taxes on cigarettes purchased during that nine-month period, the Ohio Department of Taxation announced Monday. The combined tab? More than $2.15 million, including nearly $370,000 owed to Cuyahoga County.
The largest bill - $2,700 - belongs to a Huron County resident who bought 2,160 packs from out-of-state Internet vendors. Most bills are less than $600. They must be paid within 30 days, according to the department, which did not release names.
"If people bought online to avoid taxes," state spokesman Mike McKinney said, "they're going to be disappointed."
Five vendors supplied tax collectors with the names, addresses and transaction details for Ohio customers. A federal law requires online cigarette vendors to report sales with each state for tax purposes. Ohio requested the information, McKinney said.
The state also billed for unpaid cigarette taxes in 2006. The department collected $568,000 from more than 1,600 people during that sweep. McKinney said the state makes "periodic reviews."
The latest target dates to when the state raised its cigarette excise tax to $1.25 per pack. (In Cuyahoga County, customers pay an additional 34.5 cents per pack; the bulk of that represents a voter-approved tax to raise money for arts and cultural programs.)
The lure of cheap tobacco often sends consumers to the Web. Up to 78 percent of Internet merchants advertise "tax-free" cigarettes to appeal to customers living in states with high excise taxes, according to the Substance Abuse Policy Research Program.
Ohio joins many other states, including Michigan, Illinois and Pennsylvania, in pursuing unpaid taxes for online buys, the organization reports.
In addition, Ohio passed a law in 2005 banning the shipment of cigarettes to consumers - making it one of only five states to adopt such a restriction. |
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gilster
Smokers Rights Activist
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by Lynda F
on Tue May 06, 2008 10:13 am |
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gilster wrote:
A federal law requires online cigarette vendors to report sales with each state for tax purposes. Ohio requested the information, McKinney said.
In addition, Ohio passed a law in 2005 banning the shipment of cigarettes to consumers - making it one of only five states to adopt such a restriction.
It's amazing how it is ONLY cigarettes that are subject to this. You can buy anything else you want online, not pay taxes on it, but it is ONLY cigarettes that have such a ban on them.
Hypocrites!!! |
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Lynda F
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by ladyteal
on Wed May 07, 2008 5:19 pm |
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I recently received a tax bill from Pennsylvania. During a period of approximately 2 years, I bought 40 cartons on the internet. Some for my Mom and a friend. The amount that I will owe is around $500. PA sends a form that you have to fill out, sort of like a income tax form. I'm going to pay the bill by May 26. However, my mini protest will be that I will NOT fill out or sign the form. I intend to make a copy of the form, figure the tax owed on my copy, get a money order for the amount owed, and send it to the PA state aholes with a blank form. I will attach a note saying "Since I pay your salary, YOU figure it out.
Besides the cigarette tax of $1.35 per pack, they tack on a 6% USE TAX. This 6% tax is suppose to be paid by any PA resident that buys taxable products out of state, or on the internet. Are they going after any other people that purchase PA taxable products? I don't think so. |
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ladyteal
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by Jay
on Sun May 11, 2008 6:00 pm |
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IL is actually anotha state that bans tobacco being delivered to a crib, including loose tobacco. But I had no problem with cartons, loose tobacco, and tubes being delivered to my home over the past 4 years (ever since that law went into effect).
A Ohe!!o smoker referred to her state authorities as "thugs." That's the best way to describe them. Ohello is probably trying hard to put as many criminals behind bars as possible. But yet, it's perfectly normal to steal money themselves from innocent smokers.
I hope there are some Ohio smokers who won't give into those back tax bills. So those smokers can let the thugs running that state know "If you guys really want to steal money from othas, maybe you can move to a hood area in Cleveland and rob a bank with your new friends. You ain't gonna steal money from me!" |
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Jay
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by patdaly
on Mon May 12, 2008 9:29 pm |
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Jay, could you point me to the law that keeps retailers from shipping loose tobbacco?
There is no state tax on class J stuff yet, the only thing they could legally charge would be state sales tax, which I would gladly pay. |
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patdaly
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by gilster
on Tue May 13, 2008 5:35 am |
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http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.2932:
Patdaly, the US Congress has the bill above going through the motions. I hope it gets shot down.
Quote: SECTION 1. NONMAILABILITY OF CERTAIN TOBACCO PRODUCTS.
(a) In General- Chapter 30 of title 39, United States Code, is amended by inserting after section 3002a the following:
`Sec. 3002b. Nonmailability of certain tobacco products
`(a) In General- Cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, and roll-your-own-tobacco--
`(1) are nonmailable matter;
`(2) shall not be--
`(A) deposited in the mails; or
`(B) carried or delivered through the mails; and
`(3) shall be disposed of as the Postal Service directs. |
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gilster
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by Jay
on Wed May 14, 2008 12:56 am |
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I can point you to a new article i came across where NY is trying to force online vendors like Amazon.com to cough up the money (in terms of taxes).
I know if NY State is gonna try to force even non-tobacco online shops to charge taxes on their customers' orders, then that would defeat the purpose of buying ANYTHANG online.
I could post it on this site, but I dunno what category an article based on charging people taxes for ALL items bought online would apply to (in terms of forum topics).
I see someone answered the Q you actually asked. And I rememba reading that citation in the past about taxing loose tobacco. |
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Jay
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by patdaly
on Mon May 19, 2008 10:08 pm |
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So it ships Fedx or UPS, screw the US post office.
Like I said, so far, the only tax on bulk tobbacco in Illinois is the Class J .37C/Lb tax, plus of course, Illinois sales tax, that I can live with. |
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patdaly
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by Jay
on Tue May 20, 2008 11:56 pm |
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| UPS agreed to stop delivering any tobacco a few years ago actually. Screw the UPS. I hope those mothas ain't delivering alcohol! |
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Jay
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by Andrew The Cowboy
on Tue Aug 19, 2008 2:50 pm |
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Sorry, I know that I am "late" in this conversation but I have to leave a few-letters for posterity's sake.
I CAN NOT BELIEVE THAT THE OHIO STATE GOVERNMENT IS ACTUALLY STUPID ENOUGH TO TRY THIS SCAM IN THE SAME CITY/STATE AS CASE-WESTERN-RESERVE-LAW-SCHOOL! 
I fear that a lot of board colege students are about to take up a dangerous new "hobby"(homework) i.e. sueing the state for billions of dollars of slip-and-fall "class action" $money$  |
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Andrew The Cowboy
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