[Voltswagen]

Another freedom has been quietly legislated away by the US Congress.
The House and Senate yesterday passed the PACT Act - S1147.
For those not familiar....this was the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking legislation which, once signed by the president, now makes it a federal crime to transport cigarettes, purchased on the internet, using the US Postal Service.
If you are not a smoker and think this doesn't effect you......think again.

The legislation was passed under the guise of protecting children from
illegally buying cigarettes on the internet.
Lemme see....Little Johnny is at school.....the mailman delivers a package in his name from an Indian Reservation....and his parents never open it or question what he bought or where he got the money from.


Looking deeper into who sponsored this bill anyone with minimal intelligence can see this was not about protecting kids....it's about money.....lost revenue and taxes.
The bill was heavily lobbied by NACS.....National Convenience Store Owners. Wonder why they wanted to stop mail order smokes?
Could it be that internet ordered cigarettes are 1/3 the cost of buying them at 7 - 11 and store owners noticed a year by year decline in over-the-counter sales?

If you're thinking buyers could use FedEX, DHL or UPS well.......the infamous Elliot Spitzer, former attorney general for the state of New York, aready shut down that option back in 2003 threatening to make life difficult for those delivery companies and other states quickly followed suit.

So why are internet ordered cigarettes so cheap? Because most are sold by Indian Reservations which are exempt from state taxes and the Jensen Act. The Seneca Nation of western New York State being one of the largest vendors.
The Jensen Act requires all tobacco vendors to report to individual states anyone who buys cigarettes out of their home state so that their home state can track them down and collect the tax due on the purchase. I wonder if the Jensen Act could be expanded to include everything we buy on Ebay and Amazon? Think they'd never do that to collect sales tax? Oh really?

So how could this little noticed legislation effect all of us.....smokers and non-smokers alike?
This bill opens a door to regulating the use of the US Postal Service to more than just cigarettes.
My neighbor owns a Pharmacy. He is losing perscription sales to less expensive internet ordered pharmaceuticals. What if his national business group lobbies Congress to outlaw the mailing of prescritption drugs?

How about Liquor Store Owners who are losing sales to mail ordered wines? How about Butchers who want to shut down Omaha Steaks?
What if General Motors wanted to stop us all from purchasing auto parts on the internet?
Legislation like the PACT Act becomes what is called a Slippery Slope and at the end of the day it jeopardizes our precious freedoms of choice.
Just one more reason to vote 3rd or 4th party come November. Vote the bums out......both Democrats and Republicans alike.

Roy

I don’t know if you smoke or not but I have watched friends that did die from the effects of smoking. I grew up in a home with smokers and I can say with authority that smoking is one of the worse things one can do to themselves and the people around them. As for the bill keeping kids from getting their smokes through the mail ? I don’t think it will help that much. The stupid little asses with figure some way around it. This bill is setting a president chock full of loop holes allowing more restrictions on mail order items. It is very likely that this is just another move for the government to get their sticky fingers deeper into our pockets.

[Sunking]

Originally Posted by notmrwizard

I don’t know if you smoke or not but I have watched friends that did die from the effects of smoking. I grew up in a home with smokers and I can say with authority that smoking is one of the worse things one can do to themselves and the people around them.

As an ex-smoker I agree, but that does not give anyone the right to dictate what people can or cannot do in private property like their homes, cars, restaurants, and bars.

[Tahoe Tim]

"As an ex-smoker I agree, but that does not give anyone the right to dictate what people can or cannot do in private property like their homes, cars, restaurants, and bars."

Except that the rest of us subsidize your smoking illnesses. All smoking related health issue should NOT be covered by insurance or taxpayers. Tobacco is one of the top killers and it should be banned, period. Same goes for the "holistic pharmacies" we have here that sell pot.

I'll be working until I'm 90 footing the bill for pot heads with lung cancer. If tobacco were to be put thru FDA drug testing, it would never be approved.

[Voltswagen]

The PACT Act is not about smoking.......wether it causes disease or not.
For the states, the act is about tax revenue. For the convenience store owners it's about profit.
The PACT Act is an infringement on personal freedom of choice.

Smoking cigarettes is legal.......so is the consumption of alcohol, so is the consumption of animal fat, so is the consumption of high fructose corn syrup etc................so is the purchase of guns and ammunition.
( did I miss anyone? )

If I came to this site and wrote that I wanted Congress to ban alcohol sales.......I'm sure there would be those who would protest that idea.
And rightly so. Who am I to decide what is right for you. This is the very
essence of personal freedom.

What if they ban the use of the Postal System for mail order ammunition? I dont own a gun....why should care?
I care because it infringes on all our rights.

You don't smoke? Good for you...........do you eat animal fat, high fructose corn syrup? Am I going to have to pay more for my health insurance because you need a bypass?

It's about freedom to choose.
Roy

[EVfun]

I bet there are some teabagger web sites where you would get more support for this. After all, this is really about tax avoidance.