a lot of untaxed cigarettes are being lit up in Cook County. Merriman estimates that about three of every four cigarettes smoked in Chicago come from packs that don't bear city tax stamps.
Retailers [in Cook County] are selling untaxed cigarettes right off their shelves.Tribune reporters recently visited about 40 stores. At six of those businesses, reporters bought packs of Newport cigarettes that didn't have city or county tax stamps.
buy in bulk, pay in cash and work special discounts from distributors, allowing her stores to price cigarettes more cheaply. She denied authorizing or buying cigarettes without the stamps.
But there were no stamps.
there are 26 investigators and 70,000 businesses.
city's take slid from about $32 million in 2006 to about $25 million in 2008 and is still dropping. At the county, revenue has plummeted from $203 million in 2006 to an estimated $163 million in 2009.
Click on the following for more details: Smoke out tax cheaters -- chicagotribune.com
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