State Continues Crack Down On Tax Cheats

Chalk up one victory for the latest state budget: the Board of Equalization was allocated 20 clerks to sift through online cigarette retailers' invoices and figure out which California residents were forgetting to pay the state its excise and use taxes. The investigation will examine 450,000 sales invoices and 65,000 shipping invoices. This comes as voters will consider Proposition 86 will increase excise taxes from 87 cents a pack to $2.60, and follows recent Board of Equalization investigations into sales tax evasion on big-ticket items (think art purchased at a Christie's auction in New York) and an income tax evasion program designed to catch California residents trying to shelter income in Utah and other states. Full story (SacBee)