Citizens against the PACT ACT of 2009 S. 1147

On November 19, 2009 at 10:00 A.M the Senate Judiciary Committee in Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226 voted YES on PACK ACT of 2009 S. 1147 to Stop all Mail Order Tobacco Businesses. This bill will now go to the Senate to be voted on. If this bill is passed in the Senate it will prohibit American citizens from having the freedom of choice in regards to personal purchases, shut down Native American online tobacco stores and shut down the United States Postal Service from delivering tobacco products with the exception of cigars.

The Politicians and others have given FALSE information to support this bill. They claim that this bill will stop illegal sales of tobacco and it will reduce or minimize underage sales of tobacco to minors. That could not be further from the truth. Politicians for years have tried using this excuse to get support for this bill and many others that resemble this bill. It is already a fact that most if not all U.S. Tobacco sites and Native American tobacco sites require a valid picture ID to be sent by email, fax, or regular mail before products are shipped as well as requiring a signature upon delivery. Often U.S. Tobacco sites and Native American tobacco sites ask for more age verification than you will see in your local stores. 99.9% of all Minors do not buy their cigarettes online. Minors typically do not have $100-$250 to spend on a cigarette order of 3-6 cartons of cigarettes and wait for them to arrive at their parent's house and hope they do not get caught receiving them in the mail. Minors that are looking to obtain cigarettes will do this locally by finding a friend or stranger who is 18 or older to buy a pack for them or stealing them from their parents. US Citizens that are making Tobacco purchases online to try to save money from the unjust and unequal State Cigarette Excise Tax increases year after year. These people are not criminals, they are your average hard working U.S. Citizens trying to save money, and they are certainly not minors.

The Politicians and others supporting this bill S. 1147 jump up and down the sale of Tobacco Products online are illegal when the truth is people do not go to the internet to buy their tobacco products to hide from taxes they go to the internet to save money just like you would go to Wal-Mart to buy a T.V that cost $1,500.00 compared to Target selling the same T.V for $2,000.00. The people that regulate our State Excise Taxes are the criminals here not the consumer. Many states put extremely high State Excise Taxes on their cigarettes and then complain they are losing revenue because the consumer is buying elsewhere. U.S. Citizens should have the right to shop for the best price for a product they choose to purchase and not having to run all  over the United States to find the best price. For example the average price of 1 carton of Marlboro-Full Flavor King Box by State: South Carolina = $36.99, Georgia = $37.99, North Carolina = $39.79, California = $44.99, Florida = $48.49, Texas = $51.69, Massachusetts = $68.79, Connecticut = $73.69, RI = $75.49, New York State = $75.99, New York City = $94.99. The prices above exclude the sales tax at the register, which is typically 5%-8% additional depending on the State sales tax for each state.

We believe it is unlawful and criminal for the State Politicians to charge such high taxes to only a "certain" population of a City, State or Country. Why is it that politicians feel it is ok to be prejudice in issuing taxes only to a certain group of people? Only 20% of Americans smoke. Where is the responsibility of the 80% of the people who do not smoke to contribute to the State budget as well? Why does that group of 80% get a FREE Ride not to contribute as much to the State budget? Why are the politicians picking on a minority group here? If they passed a Tax Law that said that only African Americans had to pay $25.00 extra a week in taxes just because they were black, would that be ok? No there would be a huge uproar if that was done, and we do not think it would be ok either, but yet it is done to smoker's each an every year with another tax increase. So why is it ok to make US Citizens who have the freedom to smoke if they choose, to pay an extra $25.00 - $70.00 a week extra in taxes to support State budgets just because they smoke? That is unjust, unfair and most of all prejudice and we believe should be illegal. Please stop trying to hide behind our children and claiming online smokers are the criminals just to support your bill.

We the Citizens against PACT ACT 2009 S. 1147 ask our Senators to VOTE NO on this bill, and for President Barack Obama to VETO this bill if this bill is passed based on the following reasons and explanations.

1.      This bill will prohibit American citizens from having the freedom of choice in regards to personal purchases of whom they wish to purchase tobacco products from. A huge amount of handicap individuals will no longer be able to purchase tobacco products without mail order. Americans choose to purchase and/or use tobacco products, Americans should have the freedom of choice to choose who they purchase tobacco products from, what brand(s) and kind(s) of tobacco products they purchase, and where they purchase these products from.

2.      When the PACT Act of 2003, S. 1177 passed the Senate, the Congressional Budget Office prepared a cost estimate for the bill. Over a 4 year span, from 2004 to 2008, enforcement of the PACT Act of 2003 was estimated to cost over $140 million dollars. Passing this bill would cause an enormous deficit.

3.      Passage of the PACT Act of 2009, S. 1147, will cause a huge loss of income for the United States Postal Service. The United State postal service operating loss this year 2009 is between $6 billion and $12 billion, debt surpassing $10 billion, and a $1 billion cash shortfall and therefore has come to congress for approval on even more cut backs. This does not account for the hundreds of postal workers that will lose their jobs. Please do not endorse or pass the PACT Act of 2009, S.1147; which will further stress the current USPS financial difficulties.

4.      Native American cigarette and tobacco sellers rely on the sale of their tobacco products to support them and provide jobs to thousands of Native American Indians and non Indians that work for these companies. Many American citizens have chosen to purchase Native American grown tobacco products vs. highly processed and commercialized name brands tobacco products. Many of the preferred Native American tobacco products are not available thru local tobacco products retailer%u2019s stores. Native American cigarette and tobacco sellers rely on the United States Postal Service to provide their customers these legal and non-hazardous products. If the PACT Act of 2009, S. 1147 is passed, this will severely hurt our Native American producers and sellers of Native American tobacco products. This does not include the wholesalers that will have to shut down that depend on the Native American companies that purchase product from them.

We the Citizens against S. 1147 would like to suggest a solution to your problem that would be fair to all parties. Do NOT get rid of someone(s) rights to buy from whom they wish to do business with. Get rid of the excise taxes the way they are today, there is way too many states charging all different kinds of amounts making people look some place else to buy. Many states like New York for example are ridiculously high when it comes to excise taxes. Create a committee that would regulate all cigarette excise tax. Put a $2.25 per carton excise tax charging at the wholesale level then have those wholesalers send the money to each state just like they do when stamping the cigarettes before selling them to the retail stores this would stop the states from complaining they are not getting their fair share from the online retail stores. This would make online retailers happy, retail store not online happy because they would find more people buying if their taxes were not so high, the states would be happy because the wholesalers would be sending their excise tax money to them. This would keep everyone(s) jobs including not causing the hardship on the postal service. It should not be the retailer(s) responsibility in collecting these taxes it should be a tax applied at the wholesaler level before even getting into the hands of the retail stores including Native American on or off line retail stores. Enough already on attacking the smokers and attaching unfair high taxes, lets work together to solve the problem so everyone comes out happy.

We the citizens against PACT ACT 2009 S. 1147 would like to thank you for your time and we ask you to vote against the PACT Act of 2009, S. 1147 it will be immensely appreciated.

Also, please encourage your fellow members of the Senate to vote against passing The PACT Act of 2009, S. 1147 as well.

Sincerely,