Get those smugglers

The state of Tennessee recently passed a cigarette tax increase from 20 to 62 cents a pack and guess what, people are buying smokes from other states and bringing them back to the volunteer state.

So instead of making their tax competitive with other states so people aren't incentivized to go elsewhere, they're installing video surveillance sytems to bust smugglers.

Starting today, state Department of Revenue agents will begin stopping Tennessee motorists spotted buying large quantities of cigarettes in border states, then charging them with a crime and, in some cases, seizing their cars....

“This shows once again that Reagan Farr and the Department of Revenue are more interested in turning Tennessee into a police state than doing their job of collecting taxes,” said Drew Johnson, president of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research.

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