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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhite NYC man busted with 500,000 untaxed cigarettes in his van, not choked to death
http://nypost.com/2014/11/07/nyc-man-busted-with-500000-untaxed-cigarettes-in-his-van/Michael Zekry, 67, was stopped in New Springville by police who were on his tail for several months, and busted him with over 2,500 cartons of untaxed cigarettes, according to a criminal court complaint....
I go to Virginia every 10 weeks, I make $5,000 to $7,000 on a load, a carton sells between $40 to $50, you got a good one! Im out of business now, he told arresting officers....
In July, Eric Garner tragically died after cops put him in an illegal choke-hold when they tried to place him under arrest for selling untaxed cigarettes.
Zekry:
Eric Garner:
NoJusticeNoPeace
(5,018 posts)I still cant imagine what it must have been like to be choked to death, deprived of air (the scariest thought possible for a human beiing and for what.
FOR WHAT
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)The cigarette tax in NYC is $5.85 a pack -- which works out to 29 1/4 cents per ciggie.
RoccoR5955
(12,471 posts)You sure are doing a good job of taking his talking point.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)The Rug Doctor presumably thinks it's A-OK for a black man to die over 29 cents.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)the cigarettes that Eric garner was selling were not untaxed. He purchased the pack and paid every dime of the tax owed.
enough
(13,264 posts)MindPilot
(12,693 posts)High taxes on tobacco and booze are sin taxes that do absolutely nothing to mitigate their use, they serve only to punish the consumer of such products. And fuel a black market.
If a revenue stream is the carrot for cannabis legalization, the result will be exactly the same, and the police will have yet another "tool" to fuck with poor and the minorities.
Throd
(7,208 posts)MindPilot
(12,693 posts)the lower-priced black market product would be used by those the police wanted to target--at least that would be the assumption.
Point being that the high taxation works to keep it illegal for certain segments of the population.