One of the things I heard over the marine VHF in New York harbor

was a conversation between two smokers discussing how they can get cartons of smokes cheaper than in New York City.

Here we go, I have said this before and it holds true. People will generally make an effort to avoid taxes.

Both of these sailors were headed to ports further south where cigarettes are not taxes as highly as they are in New York and both of these mariners planned on buying an awful lot of smokes, some to feed their habits, and some for resale to their friends or whatever.

Being a nice guy, I interrupted them to let them know of a guy that used to supply me when I smoked. They were grateful as hell.

What is funny as hell is I also told them that the place two doors down sells discount liquor but they were not inte5.04rested. This did not surprise me. I'm pretty much the same way. I would never bring booze on board even if it was to be kept sealed and taken home. It is something I just do not do.

Still, it is interesting how the mechanics of tax evasion work. It is just SO predictable. 

A state or municipality taxes something and people start to buy the taxed item from out of town or out of state.

Seattle has recently put a 1.75 cent/ounce on sugary drinks. That's 21 cents per 12 ounce can, $1.26 per six-pack and $5.04 per case of twenty-four cans. That's a lot of money to be tacked onto soda pop.

While I rarely drink the stuff it doesn't effect me, but if it did I would certainly change my buying habits by purchasing my sugary drinks out of the city limits. I am no different than anyone else.

What's funny about taxes like this is that most police officers probably do the same thing. You can figure the police are not really going to be super gung ho about enforcing a law like this. Most of them are just as guilty as anyone else.

You would think that after a while the government types would smarten up but they don't really seem to. Too many of them truly think they are the smartest person in the world for coming up with a plan to tax something. They never seem to learn.






To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY