"Anarchy is not chaos, but order without control." »» David Layson

Applied Anarchy - One Way I Legally Avoid Taxes

Posted on August 16, 2007
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Philip Morris USA sent me a nice postcard the other day informing me that our wonderful Congressional “representatives” are once again considering raising the federal cigarette tax - by 156%. The current federal cigarette tax is $0.39 per pack, the new tax will be $0.90 per pack. This is projected to raise 9.44 billion dollars in revenue for the federal government and is on top of the state (and some local) taxes on cigarettes which currently average more than $1.00 per pack (NJ is the high at $2.75 while South Carolina (home of “big tobacco”) is the lowest at $0.07). I’m happy to say that despite the fact that I smoke around a pack a day almost none of that tax revenue is mine.

This is because I stopped buying cigarettes at my local shop a couple of years back. Instead I do my tobacco shopping online, from businesses like Cig2U. Not only does this allow me to keep a small amount of my hard earned cash from being whisked off to the pockets of thieves … er … bureaucrats, but it also saves a fair amount on the base price itself.

Here in California we currently have a cigarette tax of $0.87 per pack or $8.70 per carton (with a measure on the ballot this November to raise this to $3.47/pack or $34.70/carton!) A carton of name brand cigarettes (Camel, Marlboro, etc) at my corner store costs $43.00. Pretax price is around $35.00. Cig2U sells single cartons of Camel filters for $24.99 delivered to my front door. Marlboro Reds are only $26.99 for a single carton and if you buy 6 in one order (split with friends or stock up) they’re only $21.65 per carton.

These are not the bug-filled, poorly packed third world cigarettes but those made for the European market which are nearly indistinguishable from those purchased here in the states. And they’re available, delivered to your door, for less money then many people pay just in taxes for their cigarettes.