New information from the Tennessee Department of Revenue sheds more light on cigarette surveillance along the state’s border.
According to internal budget information shared with WKRNNewsExtra, the department shows a spending estimate increase for the 2007-08 fiscal year of half a million dollars for its Special Investigations Section. The Fiscal year 2006-2007 budget for this section was $3.2 million. The state’s cigarette surveillance program along the state border has 10 agents allocated from the Special Investigations Section.
A tax revenue spokesperson attributes the half a million dollar budget increase to the following:
- Three new positions that will “focus on businesses importing and selling untaxed cigarettes and Master Settlement Agreement violations anticipated by the cigarette tax increase.”
- One special agent position that will “conduct tax investigations.”
- 3% state employee salary increase
UPDATE 5:10p.m. – Drew Johnson, President of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, a libertarian think tank, responds with the following:
In an open records requests, the Department of Revenue told the Tennessee Center for Policy Research that there was no additional cost to taxpayers to enforce this ridiculous cigarette surveillance program. WKRN also reported this. Now they say taxpayers are on the hook for half a million dollars. Which is it?
If they don’t spend money to enforce the scheme, then it’s all a ruse – just a bluff meant to scare Tennesseans from crossing state lines to buy cigarettes.
If they do spend $500,000 to implement the program, then it’s a complete boondoggle. With the state tax on smokes at 62 cents a pack, the Department of Revenue would have to confiscate and tax an impossible 806,452 packs of out-of-state cigarettes to pay for the program.
– 10-24-07 – No charges to date in cigarette surveillance along Tennessee border
