OLYMPIA, Wash. - Scott Adams smokes about a carton a week, an expensive habit. So when he found out a few years ago he could order cigarettes on the Internet and for about $20 less a carton, he was giddy about how much money he would save.

But recently, there was an unexpected twist.

KING

Scott Adams is paying 25 percent of his paycheck in back taxes for cigarettes bought over the Internet.

"I couldn't believe someone who actually be sent out to my apartment to collect tax money for cigarettes," Scott said.

He admitted he ignored a series of warnings and tax statements, never taking them seriously. But he soon realized just how serious the state was about getting those unpaid cigarette taxes.

“If they wanted the money, they were going to have to take it,” he said. “So they did. I was not going to hand over any money. If they wanted it that bad, they were going to have to take it."

That's exactly what happened. The state is now garnishing his wages by automatically taking 25 percent of his paycheck, or about $360 every two weeks.

In all, Scott owes a staggering $8,000 in back-taxes for buying cigarettes online. It could top $9,000 with interest.

Customers might not know that when they buy cigarettes from Internet sites, the out-of-state companies, by federal law, can be pressured into handing over a list of shoppers' names. 

Once the state knows who's been dodging cigarettes taxes -- which amount to more than $2 a pack in Washington -- they can go after them.

The state's department of revenue says more and more smokers are finding ways to not pay taxes on their cigarettes and that it's the state obligation to go after all that missing money.

"It's a big deal. Cigarette tax evasion amounts to $200 million a year for our state," said Mike Gowrylow of the Washington Dept. of Revenue.

"It's not generally a good idea to ignore the tax man. We're not going to go away. We have a job to do. We're going to do it to the fullest extent we can."

"There's always this one-half of one percent of people who don't think we're serious. And they think they can ignore us.  We send them repeated letters, even phone calls, even personal visits sometimes to warn them if they don't pay their taxes, enforce action will take place, and that could include garnishment of their wages."

As for Scott, he’s not giving up smoking. He’s just rolling his own now.