Susie
THat was the point of my first post. ITs not that UPS is giving under age kids smokes. IT sounds good for a 30 second blurb on the 11oclock news but it is not the reason.
Anytime you have the authority to tax, and someone comes along and tries to circumvent the process (in this case sales of cigarettes by the indian nations tax free), you will raise the hackles of those in "charge". Especially when you see all the tax money from cigarettes going to "health care for smokers".
UPS as a business when it expands looks for the best sites in the country. Some of the issues are a willing work force, interstate network, and tax breaks for investments in a comunity. Now when negotiating with officials that have been pissed off that you have been aiding the indians in screwing the state out of billions of dollars of cash, how do you think the conversation will go.
Also it is interesting how the delivery companies are being targeted as the bad guys for doing something illegal. Would it not be the indian nations that are doing the illegal act by selling cigarettes tax free. WE are just the carriers for a legal product that was paid for in a legal manor. It is the shipper that is breaking the law, not the shipping companies.
So why not shut the shipper down? OR is that a hot potato that they dont even want to touch.
I can see the headlines now. goverment shuts down business that provides sole support for thousands of poor indians. 2600 Cherokee indians sign up for welfare as goverment shuts down only plant in town. All the employees now have no insurance, income and will have thousands of children starving within two days. And it would go on and on. And the politicians that led the charge to recoup taxes, think they would ever be re-elected?
NAh it is cleaner to focus on twisting the arm of UPS and others via the system to do what they want. Shut down the distribution system and you no longer have the problem. And I can get re-elected because I increased revenues for the state, brought in major businesses that pay well, and the indian nation still signs up for welfare and food stamps becuase of a slump in sales. I guess people are quitting smoking?
d