Topic: Ban Damage

Cig Taxes Will COST States Over $5 Billion This Year
04/22/2015
By PETER FRICKE
Tobacco companies and anti-smoking groups alike say that high cigarette taxes will cost governments billions of dollars this year as smugglers step in to meet consumer demand.
A study conducted by the Tax Foundation in February compares data from 2006 and 2013, and “finds that smuggling rates generally rise in states after they adopt large cigarette tax increases.” (RELATED: Cigarette Tax Increases Not Producing Desired Revenues)
“Public policies often have unintended consequences that outweigh their benefits,” the foundation explains, and “one consequence of high state cigarette tax rates has been increased smuggling as criminals procure discounted packs from low-tax states to sell in high-tax states.”
In New York, for instance, cigarette taxes have increased 190 percent since 2006, while smuggling has risen 62 percent. New York leads the nation in both categories, with a tax rate of $4.35 per pack and untaxed cigarettes making up an estimated 58 percent of the overall market. (RELATED: Study: Smugglers Help Smokers Evade High Cigarette Taxes)
The high rates of cigarette tax-evasion in New York and other high-tax states not only undermines the purpose of those taxes, but actually costs them around $5 billion per year in lost tax revenue, according to The New Tobacco Road, a website run by the RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company.
The claim is buttressed by a number of studies conducted in recent years by think tanks, including the Mackinac Center and the Tax Foundation, as well as research from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), which projects that revenue losses will total roughly $5.5 billion in the U.S. this year.
Naturally, assertions made by the tobacco industry – or any industry, for that matter – are worth taking with a grain of salt, but in this case, they are seemingly vindicated by some of the industry’s staunchest opponents.(RELATED: Cigarette Taxes May Help Finance Terrorism)
The Framework Convention Alliance (FCA), a coalition of anti-smoking groups organized by the World Health Organization to promote tobacco control globally, estimates that, “illicit trade in cigarettes represents approximately 10.7 percent of global sales, or 600 billion cigarettes annually,” and reduces government revenues by between $40 billion and $50 billion per year.
The two lobbies even offer similar prescriptions for dealing with the problem of cigarette smuggling, with both groups urging harsher punishments and stronger enforcement measures. (RELATED: Illinois Boost Cigarette Tax, Police Promise to Hammer Evaders)
The FCA eschews specifics, calling simply for “a global effort … to ensure the application of appropriate penalties and effective enforcement strategies against all forms of illicit trade.” (ANTLE: Is Selling Untaxed Cigarettes Now A Capital Offense?)
New Tobacco Road, similarly, argues that, “The cost and risk of trafficking in tobacco products must be raised substantially,” and recommends imposing significant fines and penalties on smugglers, along with allocating more resources to enforcement. (Coulter: Dying For A Cigarette In New York)
In New York City in July 2014, Eric Garner died while being arrested for selling allegedly smuggled cigarettes.

New Info Shows that Rising Cigarette Taxes Helps Finance Terrorism
April 14, 2015
By Onan Coca
Actions have consequences. I think that is probably the wisdom to take from this latest research on the impact of cigarette sin taxes on the war on terror. Apparently, the rising taxes have forced many smokers to purchase their cancer sticks from the black market… which is helping to fund the very terrorists we are fighting.
So here’s a suggestion… cut taxes and take back some of that terrorist revenue.
Raising tobacco taxes is often seen as a way for states to boost revenue, but research shows the primary effect is to promote cigarette smuggling, some of which helps fund terrorist groups.
“The higher that revenue-hungry politicians raise tobacco taxes, the more profit smugglers can make,” claims Patrick Gleason, director of state affairs for Americans for Tax Reform, in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal Sunday.
An unintended consequence of such tax hikes, Gleason says, is therefore to encourage cigarette smuggling, which also “[directs] some money toward nefarious causes” such as terrorism.
In recent years, both the Washington Post and former New York City police commissioner Ray Kelly have said there is evidence that smugglers are funneling millions of dollars from illegal cigarette sales to known terrorist groups, including al-Qaida.
Gleason notes recent cigarette tax hikes New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., among other places, have produced far less revenue than anticipated, and in some cases even correlated with an overall decrease in the amount collected.
In fact, he says, “Of the 32 state tobacco tax increases that went into effect between 2009 and 2013, only three met or exceeded revenue projections, according to industry data.”
In part, this may result from smokers reacting to the higher prices by reducing consumption, but Gleason suggests that a more significant factor is simply that “high tobacco taxes inevitably induce some low-income smokers to turn to black markets, where they can buy cigarettes at a fraction of the price.”
A recent study conducted by the Tax Foundation, an independent tax policy research center, supports this view, finding that “smuggling rates generally rise in states after they adopt large cigarette tax increases.” Of the 17 states with a net outflow of smuggled cigarettes in 2013, just two imposed taxes of more than $1 per pack, and both of those states-Pennsylvania and New Hampshire-are located near neighbors with relatively high cigarette taxes.
In contrast, of the 15 states in which smuggled cigarettes accounted for 20 percent or more of total consumption, just two impose taxes of less than $1.50 per pack, while eight tax cigarettes at $2 or more per pack. “Public policies often have unintended consequences that outweigh their benefits,” the Foundation explains. “One consequence of high state cigarette tax rates has been increased smuggling as criminals procure discounted packs from low-tax states to sell in high-tax states.”
In New York, for instance, cigarette taxes have increased 190 percent since 2006, while smuggling has risen 62 percent. New York leads the nation in both categories, with a tax rate of $4.35 per pack and untaxed cigarettes making up an estimated 58 percent of the overall market.
The issue of cigarette smuggling in New York rose to prominence recently with the case of Eric Garner, who died after being placed in a chokehold by police officers who accused him of selling “loosies,” or single cigarettes, from packs without tax stamps.
Various policy responses have been suggested to address the issue of cigarette smuggling, ranging from “differential tax rates near low-tax jurisdictions” to “cracking down on tribal reservations that sell tax-free cigarettes,” but the underlying problem remains, according to the Tax Foundation, because “high cigarette taxes amount to a ?price prohibition’ of the product in many U.S. states.”

Protesters to Trade Loose Cigarettes for Donations in Times Square Protest
January 10, 2015
By Cassandra Rules
New York, NY – Outrage over Officer Daniel Pantaleo walking free after killing Eric Garner continues in New York City and protests will be continuing this Saturday.
This time its The Manhattan Libertarian Party jumping into action. The group intends to pass out single cigarettes in Times Square in exchange for donations. All money received will be given to Project Hospitality, a Staten Island food bank.
The protest is scheduled to begin Saturday, January 10, at 1pm at Broadway & W 47th St, on the North end of Times Square.
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Paul cites high cigarette taxes in death
12/4/14
By Lucy McCalmont
Republican Sen. Rand Paul says that politicians and taxes are to blame for the police chokehold death of Eric Garner.
“Obviously, the individual circumstances are important, but I think it’s also important to know that some politician put a tax of $5.85 on a pack of cigarettes, so they’ve driven cigarettes underground by making them so expensive,” the Kentucky Republican said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews.” He continued, “But then some politician also had to direct the police to say, ‘Hey, we want you arresting people for selling a loose cigarette.’”
A New York City grand jury decided Wednesday not to return an indictment in the July death of Garner. The 43-year-old father of six died after being placed in a chokehold by a city police officer who was arresting him on suspicion of selling untaxed cigarettes. The grand jury’s decision sparked protests in New York City and an announcement from Attorney General Eric Holder that the Justice Department is launching as separate federal investigation into Garner’s death.
Paul said police are put in “a difficult situation,” but added there is “no excuse” for Garner’s death.
“For someone to die over breaking that law, there really is no excuse for it,” Paul said. “But I do blame the politicians. We put our police in a difficult situation with bad laws.”

Rand Paul blames Eric Garner’s death on high NYC cigarette tax
December 4, 2014
By Sara Fischer, CNN
In 2010, the New York State Legislature passed a law raising taxes on cigarettes purchased in New York City to $5.85 per pack of 20 cigarettes.
Fast-forward four years: A U.S. senator is blaming the politician that created that law for the chokehold death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man, by a white police officer in New York City in July 2014.
“I do blame the politician,” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, explained on MSNBC’s “Hardball.” “We put our police in a dangerous situation with bad laws.”
Garner died after a police officer put him in a chokehold while trying to arrest him for selling tax-free cigarettes. The police officers at the time were unaware of Garner’s pre-existing health conditions that likely helped lead to his death.
On Wednesday, Paul said Garner’s death would have been prevented if the law creating New York City’s high cigarette taxes — the highest in the country — wasn’t created.
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Yes, Stupid Laws Help Kill People
DECEMBER 4, 2014
By David Harsanyi
After news of the baffling decision by the New York grand jury not to indict a police officer in the killing of Eric Garner, I sent out a (slightly) hyperbolic tweet that wondered why Americans would want to entrust their free speech and health care to an institution that will kill you over failure to pay a cigarette tax.
If they can kill you over a cigarette tax, why would you trust them to run the internet, regulate your speech and choose your health care?
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Listen Up, Liberals: Make Everything Illegal, Create More Eric Garners
Dec. 5, 2014
By Robby Soave
In comparison to the Michael Brown shooting, the death of Eric Garner-and the similar decision not to indict the cop who killed him-has drawn outrage from across the political spectrum. Many conservatives, including Breitbart’s John Nolte,The Federalist’s Sean Davis, and The Daily Caller’s Matt Lewis, agreed with anti-police-brutality libertarians and liberals that Garner’s killer should have faced charges. The consensus is that the video evidence definitively established wrongdoing on the part of the officer (unlike the Brown case, which relied on conflicting eyewitness testimony).
But because that’s no fun, right and left had to find some way to tear each other apart over this. And so the contention-made by some libertarians and conservatives-that punitive cigarette taxes are a contributing factor in Garner’s death has driven many on the left into a fit of rage.
Some background on that contention, courtesy Reason’s J.D. Tuccille:
Here we have Garner, a guy allegedly selling loosies-single cigarettes-which are a perfectly legal product. Why is he supposedly selling loosies? Because New York officials inflict on their long-suffering subjects the highest cigarette tax in the country at at $4.35 per pack, plus another $1.50 levied in the city itself. It’s not a popular tax, with smuggled smokes making up 60.9 percent of the market. So the powers that be unleash the cops to enhance revenue by tracking down shipments of smuggled cigarettes and, on occasion, putting the occasional small-time street vendor in an illegal chokehold.
On his show last night, Jon Stewart mocked Sen. Rand Paul for making that point. When asked about Garner’s death, Paul said: “Some politician put a tax of $5.85 on cigarettes, so they have driven cigarettes underground by making them so expensive, but then some politician also had to direct the police to say, hey, we want you arresting people for selling a loose cigarette.”
Stewart’s response: “What the fuck are you talking about?”
BuzzFeed’s Adam Serwer also criticized the point (though more kindly), in a Twitter argument with Reason’s Scott Shackford. “I think ‘it’s the cigarette tax’ is comforting because then we don’t have to deal with the racism, which we know isn’t getting fixed easily,” wrote Serwer.
Media Matters was as nasty as could have been expected, publishing an email update on the matter under the vindictive headline: “Right-Wing Media Parrot Rand Paul’s Absurd Assertion That Cigarette Taxes Are To Blame For Eric Garner’s Death.”
And the most eloquent critic of the cigarette argument, The New Republic’s Danny Vinik, wrote:
In other words, Eric Garner is not dead because New York City imposes high cigarette taxes. He’s dead because a cop put him in a chokehold, in violation of NYPD rules, and held his head against ground. To their credit, conservatives have widely denounced the grand jury’s decision. If they want to argue against cigarette taxes, though, they should make that full argument-including that the law can cause violent confrontations between police and civilians. But pointing to Garner’s death as evidence that those taxes are bad policy isn’t meaningful.
Look, police brutality has many underlying causes. One of them is undoubtedly racism; black people are disproportionately arrested and imprisoned. An encounter between a cop and a civilian is more likely to be unpleasant if the civilian is black. In fact, it’s more likely to occur in the first place if the civilian is black, because many cops racially profile suspects.
Another cause is the police incentive structure. Police have far more legal protections than non-police. They can get away with so much more. Indeed, while the cop who killed Garner evaded indictment, a civilian who recorded the incident on his phone was indicted on a separate weapons charge. It’s difficult-often impossible-to punish police for bad behavior, which gives the bad apples free rein to abuse people.
You know what’s also a cause? Overcriminalization. And that one is on you, supporters of the regulatory super state. When a million things are highly regulated or outright illegal-from cigarettes to sodas of a certain size, unlicensed lemonade stands, raw milk, alcohol (for teens), marijuana, food trucks, taxicab alternatives, and even fishing supplies (in schools)-the unrestrained, often racist police force has a million reasons to pick on people. Punitive cigarette taxes, which disproportionately fall on the backs of the poorest of the poor, contribute to police brutality in the exact same way that the war on drugs does. Liberals readily admit the latter; why is the former any different?
If you want all these things to be illegal, you must want-by the very definition of the wordillegal-the police to force people not to have them. Government is a gang of thugs who are paid to push us around. It’s their job.
A well-meaning liberal who doesn’t want people to smoke but also doesn’t want the government to kill them for doing so has plenty of other options, by the way. There are countless organizations and products dedicated to helping people quit cigarettes voluntarily.
But anybody who wants it to be a matter of law must accept that resistance will be met with fines, prison, and death. As Bloomberg View columnist and law professor Stephen L. Carter put it:
It’s not just cigarette tax laws that can lead to the death of those the police seek to arrest. It’s every law. Libertarians argue that we have far too many laws, and the Garner case offers evidence that they’re right.
There are many painful lessons to be drawn from the Garner tragedy, but one of them, sadly, is the same as the advice I give my students on the first day of classes: Don’t ever fight to make something illegal unless you’re willing to risk the lives of your fellow citizens to get your way.
Any subsequent conversation about ending police brutality should include strategies to combat racism, reforming the criminal justice system and police incentive structure… andtaming the maniacal leviathan that is the modern regulatory state.

The Role that Obama’s Runaway Bureaucracy Played in the Death of Eric Garner
December 3, 2014
By Bryan Preston
Before anyone jumps the gun and suggests that I’m blaming Barack Obama for the death of Eric Garner, read on. I’m not.
As New York City prepares for protests – hopefully peaceful – after the grand jury’s decision not to indict in the death of Eric Garner, it’s worth a look at how we got here.
Garner reportedly had many prior arrests, which means that he was known to the NYPD and may have been known to the officers on the scene who took him down the day he died, July 17, 2014.
Why did they decide to take him down in the first place? That’s not clear even in the video. The video of his death is unfortunately too short, and starts after the confrontation has already started. The narrator says he is being “beaten up” just for “breaking up a fight,” but that appears to be inaccurate. Garner starts off in the video showing anger that the police have confronted him repeatedly, over time, not just that day. He does not appear to be threatening anyone, and according to reports had in fact just stopped a fight between other people. So it’s not clear why the police elected to use force on him. A citation would probably have sufficed.
But a citation for what?
Garner was reportedly selling “loosies,” individual cigarettes taken out of their original packaging. That’s a crime?
Yep. Since 2010, that’s a crime, sayeth the unaccountable bureaucrats at the Food and Drug Administration.
An FDA rule issued on June 22, 2010 – well within the Obama era, under a president who has unleashed bureaucracy on the entire country – mandates that individual cigarettes cannot be sold without their original packaging. You must not sell an unhealthy product that everyone knows is unhealthy unless it’s still in the polluting box that it originally came in.
If you sell cigarettes, you must comply with the following bullet points. Note the bold.
?Check photo ID of everyone appearing under age 27 who attempts to purchase cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, or smokeless tobacco.
?Only sell cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, and smokeless tobacco to anyone age 18 or older. **
?Only sell cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, and smokeless tobacco in a direct, face-to-face exchange. ***
?Do NOT break open cigarette or smokeless tobacco packages to sell products in smaller amounts.
?Do NOT sell cigarette packages containing fewer than 20 cigarettes.
?Do NOT sell single cigarettes, also called “loosies”.
?Do NOT give away free samples of cigarettes.
?Do NOT give away free samples of smokeless tobacco except from a “qualified adult-only facility.”
?Do NOT sell flavored cigarettes or flavored cigarette tobacco (other than menthol).
* This is only a summary of the laws. For the full list of federal laws, visit: www.fda.gov/BreakTheChain.
Selling and buying loosies is about avoiding taxes. Garner was being a fringe entrepreneur. That’s not to say that he’s a hero. He appears to have been a guy on the make. What he was doing was illegal and he knew that. None of that justifies the force used on him, but it’s important to keep in mind that the 43 year old was well overweight and actually died not of choking, but of a heart attack. Obviously the heart attack was influenced by the arrest. Could the police have predicted that taking him down would end up killing him? Intent to kill doesn’t appear to be in play in the video. That rules murder out. But there will be a federal investigation.
The strongest charge that the grand jury could possibly have handed down to the officer was some form of manslaughter or negligent homicide, and that might have been appropriate. The force used looks excessive. But the grand jury decided against that after reviewing the evidence, which means a jury was even less likely to convict. That doesn’t mean that they’re right. Seems like a marginal call either way. Seems like a bad call for the police to take him down by force. I don’t see why they couldn’t have given him a ticket, unless there are relevant events that we don’t know about that happened prior to the video.
It also is a bad call to let the FDA start creating new crimes, but President Obama has made a bad habit of turning the government loose on the whole country, and then daring courts to stop him. He’s a terrible president that way, and disrespects the rule of law and the rights of individuals to have any kind of certainty where we all stand with respect to the law at any given moment. Obama’s unleashing of the bureaucracy is among his most detestable actions. The next president has got to work with Congress to rein the unruly and power-hungry federal bureaucracy back in, or we all really are going to become felons in one way or another. We all will be subject to capricious and arbitrary law enforcement, which is really lawlessness and oppression.
Eric Garner died protesting (or evading, take your pick) taxes, along with violating the diktats of a bureaucratic government that has grown too remote from the people and too oppressive not just over black men, whose lives do matter and is among the reasons that the pro-life movement exists, but over all Americans. We are all subjects to the bureaucracy’s whims, and less and less true citizens as the bureaucracy grows more powerful. Garner didn’t need to die for that, he shouldn’t have died for that, but the officers involved aren’t guilty of murder.
May the protests remain peaceful.

4 hurt as party floor caves in