Small Businessman Murdered by Tax Enforcers

Eric Garner’s death was a senseless act of State brutality. But Eric Garner is not dead because he was a black man. He is dead because he was suspected of daring to sell a legal product without charging his customers an outrageously high cigarette sales tax the State demands. He died because in the eyes of the State, he questioned their authority to enforce tyrannical laws. The darkly ironic thing is, liberals are protesting the death of Eric Garner, but liberals are the reason Eric Garner is dead. Liberals are the ones who called for sales taxes of several dollars per pack on cigarettes. In fact, it was the Obama Administration that raised the federal sales tax from .39 cents per pack to $1.01 per pack. In New York City, where Mr. Garner was slain for not obeying the State, the total sales tax is $5.85 per pack. It wasn’t about “black”, it was about the green: Money the State wanted.

Now, I have a few questions. First off, Mr. Garner was accused of selling “loosies”, that is, individual cigarettes from an untaxed pack. So, where now are these cigarettes Mr. Garner allegedly had? And how can the State demonstrate he was actually selling them and they weren’t his own for personal use even if he did have a pack on his person? Everything I’ve read says he was “suspected” of doing it when the police approached. Did they see him doing it? Or did they assume it? Be that as it may, the so-called “crime” he committed was selling a legal-to-possess product that was his to sell without extorting a ridiculously high sales tax from his customers. If he was doing that. What difference does it make what price he was selling them at? If he wants to sell them below cost, what business is it of the State? If he got them in a state with lower taxes, so what? Is it just as illegal if a person buys a crock pot in a state with lower sales taxes, brings it across state lines, and sells it out of his trunk? In the eyes of the State, it probably is illegal. It probably says so in a law code book as thick as the New York City phone book. Do we actually own personal property or not? If we do, why are we not allowed to sell it as we see fit? Why is it the right of the State to demand some of that money? They already taxed the money we used to buy the product in the first place.

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