State garnishees wages for tobacco tax

SEATTLE, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- A Washington state man faces nearly $8,000 in unpaid cigarette taxes and penalties for cigarettes he ordered from out of state.

The state last week began garnisheeing 25 percent of Scott Adams' wages to recover the money, the Seattle Times reported.

Adams, a pack-a-day smoker from Seattle, said he ignored numerous warnings from the state because he didn't think the state had the authority to make him pay.

The state tax on a pack of cigarettes is nearly $2.03. State officials told the newspaper that contraband cigarettes cost the state an estimated $200 million a year in lost revenue.