Jump to full article: WRAL-TV (Raleigh, NC), 2010-02-07
Author: GARY D. ROBERTSON Associated Press Writer
Intro: For years, buying low-tax North Carolina cigarettes and selling them on the black market in a high-tax state up north has been an easy way to make big money for criminal enterprises.
Load up a van of Camels or Marlboros and reap a $100,000 profit to sell them if the destination is New York City, which has a $1.50-per-pack excise tax in addition to the $2.75 state cigarette tax.
"The cigarette tax evasion stampede is out of control," said Jim Calvin, president of the New York Association of Convenience Stores. More than half of cigarettes purchased in his state are bought without paying state or local taxes, largely because of out-of-state smuggling and Internet sales.
Catching people with North Carolina contraband is difficult because it's one of three states that don't require tax stamps affixed on every pack being sold.
Interest in restoring the stamps after a 16-year hiatus has been revived as a way to deter smuggling from North Carolina - and in an ironic change - into North Carolina. The state now may be the target for cheaper cigarettes from South Carolina . . .
"Criminal organizations all over the country exploit variants in state excise taxes and tax stamping laws to generate millions and millions of dollars in illicit profits," said Sandy Sands, a lobbyist representing Philip Morris USA, which wants the stamps restored.
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