Business

Savvy Smokers Find Way to Sneak Around Sin Tax…By Rolling Their Own Cigarettes

Savvy Smokers Find Way to Sneak Around Sin Tax...By Rolling Their Own Cigarettes“Since state and local governments began slapping heavy taxes on cigarettes, a number of smokers have managed to pay less by . . . rolling their own,” writes Chris Moran of The Consumerist.

The trick is to buy a bag of loose tobacco for well below the cost of a normal pack — or carton — of cigarettes and then roll your own cigarettes using the automated machines found in many corner store tobacco shops.

However, as is usually the case when someone discovers how to legally and lawfully avoid outrageously high taxes, state legislators are not amused.

“It’s a willful attempt to evade the tax that is in Massachusetts,” says Massachusetts State Senator James Timilty to WBZ-TV. “We should shut them down.”

Watch the WBZ-TV News Update:

The roll-your-own machines are costing Massachusetts an estimated $13 million a year in tax revenues while the feds miss out on about $5 million, says Tony Marino, who supplies roll-your-own machines to small stores.

He claims that it is simply smart smokers making a sound financial decision: “[T]here is a law on the books that a lot of people were not aware of, and that as the public becomes more aware of it, the more they are taking advantage of it.”

Still, Sen. Timilty thinks Massachusetts should put an end to it.

“It is a constitutional issue when it comes right down to it, taxes have to be enforced uniformly throughout the Commonwealth,” Timility said.

However, some say he shouldn’t worry too much: if the legal route doesn’t play out, lawmakers can always take the moral high ground.

“The State Department of Public Health says teenagers are the most price sensitive group and for every 10-percent increase in the price of tobacco there is a 7-percent decrease in consumption,” WBZ-TV Boston reports.

State lawmakers, should they choose to take the “moral” route, would only cite these figures to imply the following: cheap tobacco will encourage/enable teenagers to buy cigarettes — and we can’t have that.

Regardless of which strategy Massachusetts legislators choose to employ, one thing seems clear: the matter is less about the health risks involved in smoking (remember, Massachusetts has long bee been a fierce champion of personal “choice”) than it is about holding on to million of dollars in tax revenue.

Comments (127)

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  • hineni
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 7:41pm

    Is it still legal to grow your own tobacco?

    Report Post »  
    • ohiowordguy
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 9:10pm

      Yes, it absolutely is.

      In fact, growing tobacco is on my short list of things to do this year. Can you imagine the value of tobacco when society/the economy collapses?! Think about it. Whiskey was currency in colonial times. Tobacco will be, someday; maybe very soon.

      All you will have to do to remain legal (if that even is a concern) is to sell the plants, and information on how to process them. (Yes, I have given this a great deal of thought!)

      Check eBay or Google it. You can buy seeds right now.

      Report Post »  
    • Rumrunner3
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 10:26pm

      you can grow it, but can’t sell it to manufactures unless you have an alotment card.

      Report Post » Rumrunner3  
    • voiceofreason305
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 10:36pm

      I’m not gonna ask whether anything is legal anymore. If it makes sense to me, and i’m not hurting anyone, it’s LEGAL.

      Report Post »  
    • Libertarian B 4 Libertarians Were Cool
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 11:27pm

      voiceofreason305
      “I’m not gonna ask whether anything is legal anymore. If it makes sense to me, and i’m not hurting anyone, it’s LEGAL.”

      That’s why I ignore sodomy laws…

      Report Post » Libertarian B 4 Libertarians Were Cool  
    • AZ Red
      Posted on January 4, 2012 at 12:41am

      Define “hurting”

      Report Post »  
    • 2theADDLED
      Posted on January 4, 2012 at 3:34am

      Tobacco was one thing are founders used for trade to build this country and anything that is American they want to ban.
      What will they do when us white folk get a tan out in the sun will they ban sunbathing and make us go to tanning salons so they can get their greedy taxes. I still claim that law is Racist.

      Report Post »  
    • kcares
      Posted on January 4, 2012 at 6:10am

      I live in Middle Tn. and the Tobacco Fields are so beautiful. So sick of the gov. taxing us to death and really proud of people that figure out ways of getting around their stupid laws.

      Report Post » kcares  
    • tkm2009
      Posted on January 4, 2012 at 3:20pm

      Pinetree Garden Seeds sells a variety of tobacco seeds. Superseeds.com

      Report Post »  
  • Swamp Fawkes
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 7:34pm

    Come on BLAZE! now that you reported about it they will close the loophole!

    Report Post » Swamp Fawkes  
    • zoose
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 7:54pm

      The RYO commercial machines will make a carton in 12 minutes and since you the customer are the manufacturer the person/business that sold you the tobacco and tubes does not have to collect.
      We were getting a carton for $22.50 here in Nevada but in June we switched to the e-Cigs (vapor).
      They are pretty good, the Mrs. totally quit smoking and I’m down to 2 a day.

      Report Post » zoose  
    • Libertyluvnmomma
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 9:13pm

      The Blaze just caught on to this story,
      It’s been around for months.

      Report Post » Libertyluvnmomma  
    • BenInNY
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 9:50pm

      Agh, been doing this off and on for years. REALLY wish no one reported on it. Here the taxes are something like 4X the cost of the cigarettes alone. Bought from the reservation up until they passed a law prohibiting it 2 years ago with both R and D support. Practically eliminated the ability of reservations to even transport anything outside their borders. To this day I can’t think of a way it could be considered constitutional.
      It’s just another form of prohibition. Surely there’s a Capone parallel.

      Report Post » BenInNY  
    • Gorp
      Posted on January 4, 2012 at 12:56am

      I have a manual RYO machine and roll my own at home. A 1 LB bag of tobacco costs about $20 and a 250 tube carton costs $3.59. I can get 500 cigs out of one bag of tobacco. That’s about $15 per 250 carton. It takes me about an hour to make 5-6 packs of cigs at home while watching GBTV or “watching” Glenn’s radio show in the morning.

      Report Post » Gorp  
    • rwb1965
      Posted on January 4, 2012 at 2:02pm

      It’s not a loophole!! we still pay taxes on the tobacco and the supplies, they are just mad cause they cannot collect as much.

      Report Post »  
  • 1 Corinthians 15
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 7:34pm

    In a willful effort to help my friends in Massachusetts avoid taxes, I found this link to a website: http://www.ryocigarette.com/tobacco1.html

    It is amazing to me that these supposedly well educated “leaders” can do nothing but grab their calculators to determine their predicted cash windfall when they impose and raise taxes, but they’re completely clueless to how it impacts consumer patterns. By the way, If consumers quit smoking altogether, how much does that “cost” the government??

    Report Post » 1 Corinthians 15  
    • Rollo2
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 9:46pm

      If consumers quit smoking and deny the Gov’t their $$$, would the Gov’t pay them to get back into the habit?

      Report Post »  
    • Bluzie
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 10:30pm

      No they won’t pay to get the smokers back (lol). What they lose on revenue from those that quit they’d just find a new thing to tax. Kind of like the cars that get higher gas mileage. For years the gov. and tree huggers have been crying that cars need to get better mpg’s. then when they do they lose out on gas tax revenue they want to impose a mileage tax……taxing a person for how many miles they drive.

      Report Post »  
    • Gorp
      Posted on January 4, 2012 at 7:40am

      @1 Corinthians 15:

      I used to buy from this site and was saving money. Our nearest tobacco store was 20 miles away so I saved the time and gas by having it shipped to me. That is until MN found out I was buying online and taxed me 70% on everything I bought. I got 4 separate tax bills from MN for four different orders totaling over $400. That amount is way more than the taxes I paid by driving the 20 miles to the tobacco shop. We now have a shop in town so I purchase from them. All the retail prices are pretty much the same between the online store and the two stores here.

      Report Post » Gorp  
    • rwb1965
      Posted on January 4, 2012 at 2:08pm

      Amen!! I cannot understand how they can count something they do not have but think they should have as a loss. That is like saying I make 25K a year, but I think I should make 50K a year, so my boss is cheating me out of 25K a year. I think I’ll join the occupy movement and demand MY money.

      Report Post »  
  • gmforde
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 7:26pm

    Here in Ohio people have been rolling their own for years, because it was cheaper to do and sometimes more convenient. You bought a manual cigarette roller from the smoke shop where you bought the tobacco. It really had nothing to do with trying to get out of paying taxes. If they wanted to get out of paying taxes, they would just cross state lines where the tax rates were lower. I‘m surprised the people in Taxachusettes aren’t doing this.

    Report Post »  
    • Livia
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 11:15pm

      When my Misty’s went up to $5 and change a pack and 48 or more for a carton, I got ticked off. Went to the local tobacco shop and looked around, found what I needed and started making my own, Got them for about $12 a carton. Then they discovered they could and did tax loose cigarette tobacco which took the cost up to about $40 a carton. Found right fast that one of the helpful sellars that some of their customers were using pipe tobacco, BINGO! Good menthol pipe tobacco, tubes and bingo, got the ptice right down low again. SSOOOOOOOOO that’s what me and my liofe partner are doing. Far better prices again. My carton is back down aboout $12.00 a carton. I love thumbing my mose at this piss poor greedy state, The tobacco is good quality and it beats the liviong day lioght out of out of the cost of the ready made ones.

      Report Post »  
    • HorseCrazy
      Posted on January 4, 2012 at 1:48pm

      I pay 10.85 a pack for winstons so I go up to the indian reservation now for my bad habit. the majority of the smokers in my area do this. the state is just feeding the reservations money this way. when will they get it?

      Report Post »  
  • WillG
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 7:02pm

    I have been rolling my own for 5 years. Cost me pennies compared to Major Brands. Cut my usage greatly.

    Report Post » WillG  
  • AlcoholicMB
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 6:57pm

    Indian reservations and Canada are loving this.

    Report Post » AlcoholicMB  
  • disenlightened
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 6:56pm

    It’s not a “willful attempt to evade the tax that is in Massachusetts”, it’s perfectly legal and smart. Do smokers have some “duty” to pay a tax for their habit? What a stupid thing to say. This Massachusetts State Senator James Timilty is a real freak.

    Report Post » disenlightened  
  • sawbuck
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 6:53pm

    Is a “sin tax”… costitutional .?
    I would think the atheist would protest this…!

    Report Post » sawbuck  
  • NewLife56
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 6:52pm

    Can we do away with fat as*s politicians

    Report Post » NewLife56  
  • BurntHills
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 6:49pm

    love it! now we know what to open as a new business: a smoker’s equipment shop!

    Report Post » BurntHills  
  • Slayer
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 6:45pm

    I got a better idea. Rather than going through the trouble of rolling your own cigarettes to avoid the taxes, why not round up a bunch of high-tax money-wasting legislators and hang them from some lamp posts?

    Report Post » Slayer  
    • Twobyfour
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 10:44pm

      As long as you don’t make an addiction out of it…

      Report Post » Twobyfour  
    • Wolf
      Posted on January 4, 2012 at 7:22am

      So MS has a tobacco party replete with tar, feathers, hemp and lamp posts… sounds like a great plan to me.

      Report Post »  
  • KickinBack
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 6:44pm

    Gov bans smoking in bars. Gov bans smoking in parks. Gov bans smoking on sidewalks. Gov bans smoking in cars.

    Gov wants you to keep smoking because it needs the taxes. Go figure.

    Report Post » KickinBack  
    • AMERICA4EVER
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 7:11pm

      That way they work both ends of the political spectrum. Two faced as always.

      Report Post »  
  • lukerw
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 6:36pm

    The REAL SIN is any Consumption Tax… because Capitalism is based upon Supply & Demand, and this CREATES JOBS, providing INCOME & REVENUE!

    Report Post » lukerw  
    • Eliasim
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 6:44pm

      I think the real sin is income tax, because people have to work, but people don‘t have to consume certain things if they don’t want to.

      Report Post »  
    • Eliasim
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 6:47pm

      Income tax is interesting because in a way it‘s like Cesar’s Census Tax in that they think they are gods and think they have created your ability to work and produce.

      Report Post »  
    • antisocialist
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 9:29pm

      Eliasism, by your logic, the original tea partiers were wrong for doing what they did. I guess we should all just roll over an pay what they tell us to pay.

      Report Post » antisocialist  
  • Smokey_Bojangles
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 6:34pm

    Government already taxes air to pay for the EPA. What else is left?

    Report Post » Smokey_Bojangles  
  • SavEcig.com
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 6:28pm

    According to the Tax Foundation: http://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/245.html
    In Massechusits: Spirits are taxed at $4.05/gallon
    Beer is taxed at $0.11/gallon.

    So are beer drinkers “Sneaking around a sin tax”?
    Look out Mr Adams…they’ll be coming after you next.

    Report Post » SavEcig.com  
    • Wolf
      Posted on January 4, 2012 at 7:15am

      “…“It’s a willful attempt to evade the tax that is in Massachusetts,” says Massachusetts State Senator James Timilty to WBZ-TV. “We should shut them down.”…”
      There’[s your answer.

      Report Post »  
  • Detroit paperboy
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 6:19pm

    I met a guy lastnight, he get 1600 per month from ssi, he said he was falling down drunk when he went the Doctor… And the Doctor reccomended he receive the benefits… He was laughin and jokiin and drinkin and was actually a pretty funny and nice guy… But how many of him are out there… He spent 96 dollars last nite at the bar….

    Report Post »  
    • rwb1965
      Posted on January 4, 2012 at 2:19pm

      There are more than you might think, Our S.S.I has become the new welfare. Here in Ohio, you can get housing, utilities, food stamps, and a check if you are a drunk, drug addict, felon, or claim to have some sort of “Social Diseise”. But if you are in college trying to better yourself, as they say in NY “Forget Aboutit”

      Report Post »  
  • USAMEDIC3008
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 6:15pm

    .Smokem if you gotum

    Report Post » USAMEDIC3008  
  • flatbroke
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 6:04pm

    And lawmakers are made because, they cant steal from tax payers? aaaaaahhhhhhaa! waaaa,waaa, waaaa! i stoped smoking 13 years ago because i had a constant case of walking pneumonia, was puffing on inhalers, and cigarettes, so i had to make a choice, i choose my health, and stoped smoking, and i eventually did not need the inhalers. now i notice cigarette prices 4.50/ pack or 45.00 /carton rediculous! if i still smoked, i would probably roll my own, but iam so glad i do not, and dont miss it.

    Report Post » flatbroke  
    • M 4 Colt
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 7:36pm

      Out where my son lives $4.50 a pack would be cheap, he told me that his wife sometimes pays almost 7 bucks a pack for the major brands when she runs out of home rolled. His wife like the people in this story started to roll her own to save money once the price went over 5 bucks a pack and that was some time ago. He told me she bought a small machine along with some ready made tubes that already has the filter on the end and a bag of tobacco and will sit down and watch some TV and roll up a carton in about an hour and he said it cost them about 15 bucks for a carton.

      Report Post »  
    • ssbstspd
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 8:08pm

      Up here in democrat hell NY the state minimum, Yes minimum is 10.50 a pack.

      Report Post » ssbstspd  
  • possom
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 5:54pm

    Bet they have more people committing welfare and ssi fraud mabye they should start there instead of raising taxe’s on anything!

    Report Post » possom  
    • M 4 Colt
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 7:41pm

      Possom that would make sense until you stop to think about it, who would they be going after???? people WHO VOTE DEMOCRAT that’s who, so they are NEVER going to go after their own base that votes them into office now are they.

      Report Post »  
  • M13
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 5:46pm

    He acts as if they are stealing directly from his pocket.

    Report Post »  
    • AMERICA4EVER
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 6:09pm

      They always figure that the money is theirs just like DC. These people are not trying to lower alcohol and tobacco usage, they are greedy thieves. Smokers and consumers of alcohol are the most targeted people. Why not legalize pot and tax that. I now will get a hammered over that here on The Blaze. It would also lower crime. You would think the Feds would remember prohibition. No, I am not a Ron Paul fan either.

      Report Post »  
  • Ookspay
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 5:43pm

    Savvy Smokers? Uhh, can you say oxymoron?

    Cigarettes should not be taxed. Smokers do enough for the federal budget, they don’t live long enough to collect social security.

    Report Post » Ookspay  
  • gmoneytx
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 5:43pm

    Rollin, Rollin, Rollin, keep them doggies rollin….and our coffers won’t be swollen

    Report Post » gmoneytx  
  • Drakkhanlord
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 5:42pm

    what ya gonna do if everyone quits…?

    “It would seem that the implication is this: cheap tobacco will encourage/enable teenagers to buy cigarettes–and we can’t have that.”

    kinda like we had to make weed illegal because minorities would use it and take advantage of the white women…

    the govt lies …it just wants your dam money and lives…

    Report Post » Drakkhanlord  
    • AMERICA4EVER
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 6:13pm

      Exactly! See my previous post.

      Report Post »  
    • AMERICA4EVER
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 6:50pm

      The question remains. What can we do about it. Tax revolt? Millions marching on DC? I think we are screwed. It may take a revolution, but not the kind that OWS has in mind.

      Report Post »  
    • Drakkhanlord
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 7:27pm

      not sure what it would take…ndaa passed and americans do not seem to mind…dam sad.

      Report Post » Drakkhanlord  
  • qpwillie
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 5:37pm

    BS on the teenagers smoking more. I have been smoking Bugler for decades and all I have to do to keep teenagers from trying to bum cigarettes is show them the tobacco, the paper and the roller. They want no part of it.

    Report Post » qpwillie  
    • LondoMollari
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 5:53pm

      You ought to give one of those auditorium presentations.

      They might let you, until they find out you are a conservative.

      Can’t take the chance you might say or imply something to hurt the union.

      Report Post »  
    • MeteoricLimbo
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 6:10pm

      @ QPWILLIE
      It would seem to me that simple child psychology would indicate that taking something away from children only makes them want it more. A truckload of cigarettes is worth far more then a truckload of stereos these days. just sayin…

      Report Post » MeteoricLimbo  
  • randy
    Posted on January 3, 2012 at 5:35pm

    “It’s a willful attempt to evade the tax that is in Massachusetts,”

    Nope, it’s called common sense. something liberals lack

    Report Post » randy  
    • 13th Imam
      Posted on January 3, 2012 at 6:30pm

      I seem to remember a history lesson from Mass, where patriots dumped tea instead of paying the TAX.

      Report Post » 13th Imam  
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