This is old news that has reared it’s ugly head yet again, this time with an anti-terrorist twist. Of course I am talking about internet sales of tobacco.
Senator Herb Kohl today reintroduced the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking (PACT) Act of 2009 to provide law enforcement with the tools they need to crack down on black market tobacco selling. Cigarette trafficking has developed into a popular, and highly profitable, means of generating revenue for criminal and terrorist organizations. Hezbollah, al Qaeda and Hamas have all generated significant revenue from the sale of counterfeit cigarettes.
Will the bill stop the criminal element from trafficking in black market cigarettes? Of course not and if Kohl was honest he would admit this. All this law does is protect the states who abuse smokers with draconian cigarette taxes. It restricts free trade between the states and rewards states that would abuse its citizens through extortion. not only do some states abuse their citizens with excessive tax but they add insult to injury by applying a sales tax on the tax. Terrorist organizations like organized crime will have little incentive to abide by the law, like all protectionist bills would only punish legitimate tobacco sellers like Indian smoke shops and therefore increase the profit of the terrorist groups. The war on drugs has been a dismal failure. So this will be too. The only way to beat the terrorist is to remove the profit and therefore the incentive to traffic in illegal cigarettes. How does one do this. Repeal the abusive extortion, I mean draconian tax and open up free trade. The free market does work. Protectionist laws never have and never will.
Filed under: Big, Bad Government, Defiance, Disappointing Legislator of the Week, Dissent, Free Will, Freedom, Get Active!, Get rid of them!!, Let the market work!, Rights, action alert!, choices, reality check | Tagged: cigarette tax, draconian tax, herb kohl, internet sales, Politics, Protectionist laws
