Editorial by Fred Taub,
President,
Boycott Watch
On July 1, 2007, cigarette taxes
went up in Tennessee, so much that Tennesseans who smoke are driving across the
border to other states to buy their cigarettes to take advantage of lower
prices due to the cigarette tax. As a result, Tennessee tax revenue from
cigarette sales have gone down, not up as desired by the Tennessee state
legislature.
In response, the Tennessee Department of
Revenue is having its agents monitor the cigarette purchases by people with
Tennessee license plates in bordering states to see how many cartons of
cigarettes they buy, even for their own personal consumption, radioing back to
agents in Tennessee who make traffic stops to find out how many cigarettes
their own residents are purchasing. By law, Tennessee residents can purchase up
to two cartons of cigarettes without penalty. Purchasing more than two cartons
is a first-degree misdemeanor, and possessing more than 25 cartons of
cigarettes with tax stamps from other states, even for personal usage, is a
felony in Tennessee, strictly because Tennessee want the tax revenue.
Tennessee calls their patrolling agents across the
borders a "pro-active education service" but that is clearly ridiculous - it is
an attempt to rename an obvious cross-border enforcement that may in fact
violate Federal interstate commerce laws, as people are lawfully buying
products in other states, but that is for lawyers to determine in some later
date, as the legality of these actions are surely going to end up in court in
some future date.
The fact remains, however, that
Tennessee wanted to raise revenue through taxes, but did not expect a popular
tax revolt as evidenced by their own citizens going across the border to save
money. Higher taxes have resulted in lower revenue. If Tennessee wants to raise
cigarette tax revenue, they would have been better off lowering their own
in-state cigarette taxes thus competing with other states and getting people
from nearby states to come to Tennessee to buy cigarettes, not penalizing
Americans, and especially their own state residents for engaging in free market
economics. |
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