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BLOOMBERG CAN PUT THE FINGER ON YOU OR ME FOR NO GOOD REASON AT ALL
It was learned last week that the City Finance Department had sent out an estimated 2300 letters to New Yorkers who ducked the insane city and state cigarette taxes by purchasing smokes online over the past two years. The letters itemize those online purchases and demand payment of all back taxes owed. Failure to pay could result in further fines of up to $200 per carton.
This latest public expression of the mayor's mental illness didn't surprise us at all. It was the next logical step. First came the taxes, then the bans. When it was clear those things were forcing people online to order smokes from Indians or Canadians, steps were taken to outlaw online sales statewide. Now that that's in the bag, they're going to punish anyone who felt they were getting away with something.
So no, that sort of childish, vengeful mentality on the mayor's part has become par for the course.
(The fact is, of course, that all online purchases made in New York are theoretically taxed, but at present it's up to the purchaser himself to determine what he owes and send it in. To date this has been pretty much ignored on both sides of the equation.)
What's most disturbing about this online-smokes business is that it illustrates the fallacy of "online privacy." Should they choose to, city, state and federal authorities can just pluck your name and address off that internet with ease and punish you, should you happen to patronize a website they decide they don't like.
The question is: Now will the rest of us who've ordered things online but "forgotten" to pay those sales taxes be getting a letter in the mail? Or is the mayor going to stick with targeting those groups of people he doesn't like?
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