A few days ago, I had a Letter to the Editor published in the Charlotte Observer about a proposal to raise North Carolina’s cigarette tax, and one reason given was that it would help curb teenage smoking. I wrote in my letter that it wouldn’t, because all it would do is make a more profitable black market for cigarettes, and I cited New York as an example. I also pointed out that these criminal black marketeers don’t check IDs.

Today I received a letter in the mail from someone responding to this. I have no idea who, as this person gave no name, no return address, and no e-mail address. This person didn’t see fit to send in a reply to the Observer or any other public forum, or give me any way to respond directly. So I’m putting it here for all to see.

The blockquoted portions are from the letter. The rest is my response.

You claim that New York’s high cigarette tax is responsible for a black market run by criminal gangs. How then would you explain why my mother-in-law was buying black market cigarettes back in the late ’60s, before a significant cigarette tax existed?

Because black markets have always existed and always will. I don’t know much about cigarettes in New York in the 1960s, but one possibility is that people were buying illegal drugs anyway and hey, might as well get them all from the same source. But the recent cigarette tax has made it much more profitable to do so, so much that individual cigarettes are selling on the streets for 50� or more.

There’s a good article in Reason Magazine from 2002 about the New York taxes and cigarette smugglers.

The fact is that as long as there was another state that had an even lower cigarette tax (like North Carolina) even if only a few cents a pack, there was an incentive for gangs to transport truckloads of cigarettes. If every state imposed cigarette taxes as high as that charged by the highest taxing state, all incentive would cease for black market operations.

That just isn’t true. Criminals rarely pay taxes on contraband. They can even get items that are illegal and highly enforced, like heroin and cocaine. They would have no trouble obtaining cigarettes tax-free. Criminals aren’t likely to pay taxes out of a sense of civic duty. Tax it all you want, you won’t stop it, just like making heroin and cocaine illegal hasn’t stopped their use.

Besides, there’s a blatant inconsistency here: above you say that there was a black market for cigarettes without "a significant tax." Here, you say that if the tax were uniform it would remove the incentive for the black market. You can’t have it both ways.

You’ll have to think a little harder if you want to come up with a reasonable argument against raising North Carolina’s cigarette tax. I suggest you start saving your pennies now so you’ll be able to pony up the extra $.50 per pack that will be required to support your habit.

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I don’t smoke–never have, and never will. I’ve also never so much as touched an illegal drug, haven’t had a sip of alcohol since college, and even gave up caffeine a few years ago. Why did you assume that I smoke? Is it just easier to assume that I have a vested personal interest and bias on this issue? Does that make it easier for you to dismiss my arguments? Can anyone say, "Poisoning the Well" fallacy?

The letter is signed, "A Member of the Non-Smoking Majority." Well, I’m a member of the non-smoking majority as well. But I also know that this country is a republic, not a democracy, and the tyranny of majority rule is not supposed to apply here. I hate smoking and everything about it, and try to avoid it as much as possible. But I love freedom more than I hate cigarette smoke.

It’s a shame more people aren’t of that mind. Where is the love of freedom that made our forefathers fight and die for it?

Geez…Our Federal debt is already $7.5 trillion, and the "fiscally responsible" "small government" "conservative" Republicans who have control of Congress want to vote to make it even bigger!

Enough is enough. This borrow-and-spend Congress is sending us spiralling into perpetual debt. The interest on the national debt is becoming a larger and larger portion of the Federal budget. Government is robbing businesses of capital which could be used to revive the economy and create higher-paying jobs. And they’re sacrificing our future to satisfy their spending habits today.

Fortunately, DownsizeDC.org gives us a very good way to speak out to our representatives. If you don’t think that Congress should raise the debt ceiling yet again, it’s very easy to voice your opinion by clicking here. You don’t have to create a user to send the message, although it does make it easier if you want to go back and send messages on other topics. And, of course, you can write to your representatives in Congress any time you want by typing in your ZIP code at the box on the right side of this page, under "Contact Congress," and clicking "Go."

Our legislators are proposing a fiscally dangerous amendment to the North Carolina Constitution called "Amendment One." This amendment would allow the state to issue "self-financing bonds" (which are the economic equivalent of perpetual motion machines–and just as unsound). This is nothing more than an extension of corporate welfare and a blank check for the state to increase debt as much as they can; make no mistake, North Carolina residents will be taxed more to pay for them. The experience with these in other states confirms this, and shows a negative return for the bond "investment."

Not only that, but voters are to be deceived in what this amendment actually says. The wording on the ballot is not the wording of the actual amendment (in violation of Article XIII Section 4 of the NC Constitution) and does not alert the voter to aspects of the amendment, such as locking in a minimum tax valuation and the burden of local governments to provide revenues to make up for any shortfalls.

Read all about it here.