Saturday, December 04, 2010
The limits of vice taxes
Taxing vice has its limits. Among other things, it has made bootlegging profitable again.
6 Comments:
By 
, at
Sat Dec 04, 06:45:00 PM:
How long before the NY government declares that the loss in revenue is really caused by a reduction in smoking?
By , at
Sat Dec 04, 07:04:00 PM:
Are you suggesting that big government liberals should become tobacco use supporters? Just come clean, admit it, and perhaps even go so far as to ask for pro-smoking advertisements in school cafeterias?
Anything and everything must be "on the table" in support of bigger government.
By Fausta, at
Sat Dec 04, 07:23:00 PM:
Forget vice. There's going to be a fortune to be made bootlegging incandescent lightbulbs.
By , at
Sun Dec 05, 02:56:00 AM:
Flash from the Future!
"60 Watt Incandescent, the forbidden bulbs".
A tale of two brothers pursued across middle America by the ATFB for the crime of smuggling GE light bulbs from a clandestine factory in Mexico.
Not an big winner at the 2014 Academy Awards but it garnered some great Peoples Choice awards.
By , at
Sun Dec 05, 10:55:00 AM:
Here's my prediction! Many of these cigarettes without tax stamps are sold in Indian reservations across NY state, places where one can gamble and buy tax free smokes.
Liberal NY state will interdict folks coming from these reservations and ask for "papers" and search cars/vans/trucks, seizing quantities that appear to be "beyond personal use." Those stopped/searched who are black or Mexican will be released with no fine or warning because, to do otherwise, would be racial profiling.
By , at
Sun Dec 05, 01:23:00 PM:
Wonderful article. Vice taxes pick on certain groups & ignors others. That is just wrong.
What if there was a tax to check out library books then I guess others would complain & rightly so.
Need to read a new book that's a must read about Americans actually stand up to corrupt government. It's about us & possibly our destiny in history. I recommend it.
www.booksbyoliver.com
A pack of cigarettes in NYCity is now $10 dues mostly to city taxes. Guess what? Illegal shipment of cigarettes are going into NYCity & now there are fewer cigarettes sold there. So yes, vice taxes are just wrong. Great article...haven't seen this anywhere else.
