State of California Violates Constitution Through Illegal Tax on Imports of Products from Other States. Californians Must Protest This Egregious Grab of Power Today.
What follows is a copy of a letter our organization wrote to the thugs at the tax equalization board in California. The government is taxing imports from other states! A clear violation of the commerce clause of the Constitution, which, if not stopped, will destroy the economy of the U.S. and put us back into the economic basket case state we were in during the Articles of Confederation, when states taxed each others products, and ruined the economy.
The Institute for Human Rights
Taxpayers' Rights Advocate
State Board of Equalization
450 N Street, MIC 70
P.O. Box 942879
Sacramento, CA 94279-0070
October 11, 2000
RE: Constitutional Rights Violations by Board of Equalization
BY FAX:(916) 323-3319
Dear Taxpayers’ Rights Advocate,
I am writing to you today because of the unconstitutional actions of the California State Board of Equalization.
I saw a story broadcast on CNN earlier this week which indicated that the State of California is hunting down citizens there who happen to purchase cigarettes over the Internet from out of state retailers. The reason given in the story for this policy is to collect sales tax revenue.
Clearly, if the State Board of Equalization is enforcing such a policy it is a violation of the “commerce clause” of the Constitution of the United States of America. Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution states that “no tax or duty shall be laid upon articles exported from any State.”
The Founding Fathers would gasp at your board’s unlawfulness and temerity there, and violation of the Constitutional Rights of Californians and property rights of merchants in other states. You would do well to heed the advice to back off from this policy before a major lawsuit is filed to halt your board’s misdeeds.
Yours Truly,
Mr. E.J. Koprowski, President