What Happens When, Instead Of A War On Drugs, There's A Sales Tax On Drugs
It's like gay marriage. Tiffany's bottom line is probably on the way up, and I'm guessing caterers' and florists' houses are coming out of foreclosure.
In the case of now-legalized pot, there was a boon for a San Francisco Girl Scout, who sold 117 boxes outside a pot dispensary in the span of two hours.
Smart girl!
And speaking of smart, it's so much smarter to tax people for their drugs -- which, by the way, they'll use anyway -- rather than throwing them in jail for them.
The Girl Scouts, not surprisingly, are pearl-clutching over this.
Make them pay vs make me pay. That's a cause I can support.
MarkD at February 24, 2014 3:58 AM
I also note with keen interest that the state of CO has collected $184 million dollars in tax revenue since allowing pot stores to open; I can guarantee that resistance to the sale of pot in other states will vanish in the wind when other cash-hungry legislators see how profitable taxing pot can be.
roadgeek at February 24, 2014 4:35 AM
Just as with cigarettes!
Get the money, then whatever happens is A-OK!
(How did that big tobacco settlement work out?)
Radwaste at February 24, 2014 6:51 AM
Wondering which is more addictive, pot or the cookies? My money is on the thin mints.
Joe j at February 24, 2014 7:03 AM
That girl scout is one smart cookie.
One of the reasons that medicinal marijuana was/is prescribed for cancer patients on chemo is to make them hungry enough to eat past the nausea.
But I can see what's going to happen -- the government is going to suck off the tax money for anything and everything. They won't put a dime in a lockbox for later use to help create or fund treatment programs.
Then some group is going to come along and insist that the government create treatment programs. The government will then tax the marijuana vendors and kill the golden goose.
Jim P. at February 24, 2014 7:10 AM
If the tax rate is significantly higher than the sales tax on other products, I expect to see most of the trade go right back underground. Or, users will just buy a seedling or two and grow their own.
I suspect that the resulting enforcement problem will be much harder than the one they had when pot was completely illegal. It will be even worse than states with high tobacco taxes trying to stop cigarette smuggling.
Let them struggle until they get over being idiots.
jdgalt at February 24, 2014 9:41 AM
Speaking of tobacco, check out this thread I started regarding Tom Keane's recent op-ed "Cigarette tax is a bad habit for Massachusetts":
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.obituaries/f-fzbfTIBwY
Very informative - if the posters are right.
Quote:
I have to say, the only time I ever thought about or was puzzled by the existence of the black market in cigarettes was when I heard about it in the movie "Goodfellas." (That scene probably happened circa 1960 - when the public was barely aware of the dangers of tobacco! Wonder how low the taxes were then?)
At any rate, maybe we should think twice before "taxing pot to the hilt," as many suggest doing. Or anything else, for that matter.
lenona at February 24, 2014 10:02 AM
"In the case of now-legalized pot, there was a boon for a San Francisco Girl Scout, who sold 117 boxes outside a pot dispensary in the span of two hours."
I wonder if Domino's had the foresight to send the dispensery a bunch of pizza coupons?
@Lenona: "I have to say, the only time I ever thought about or was puzzled by the existence of the black market in cigarettes was when I heard about it in the movie 'Goodfellas.'"
Out here in Virginia, there's a limit on how many cartons of smokes you can buy in one place at one time. Apparently, the limit has something to do with people buying 'em cheap here and selling 'em up in New York, where they're twice as expensive.
Old RPM Daddy (OldRPMDaddy at GMail dot com) at February 24, 2014 11:44 AM
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