I'm not going to support candidates that suppor the Rave Act.

Tennessee [and other states] already taxes marijuana sales.


Tennessee Revenue Officials Continue Profiting from Illegal Drug Trade

by Andrew Chamberlain

When state governments decide to tax something, it usually represents an official stamp of legal legitimacy. But not in the case of Tennessee's illegal drug tax. Despite continuing questions of the constitutional legitimacy of the "crack tax"—officially a "controlled substance tax" since it also applies to bootlegged moonshine—the Tennessee tax continued sluicing revenues into state coffers in 2006. From WVLT in Knoxville:

Tennessee collected $1.8 million from its tax on illegal drugs in 2006.

The tax applies to controlled substances like cocaine, crack, methamphetamine and marijuana, as well as certain illicit alcoholic drinks like moonshine and non-tax-paid liquor.

The state requires drug dealers buy tax stamps similar to those found on cigarettes or legal alcohol. If dealers don't have the tax stamps to prove they paid the tax, revenue department agents can seize and auction off anything of value the person owns.

The tax is currently $50 per gram of cocaine or $3.50 per gram of marijuana. (Full story here.)

According to Tennessee officials, drug dealers worried about self-incrimination need not fear the tax, as information collected when the tax is paid up-front can't be used against them. But as the story above notes, "paying the tax doesn't make the drugs legal, either." Not surprisingly, reports from other states with "crack taxes" show most sales of the actual tax stamps are to stamp collectors, not drug dealers.

Last year, CNN Money reported that 23 states had illegal drug taxes of some kind. Since tax evasion is a civil rather than a criminal offence, drug taxes lower the burden of proof facing district attorneys in drug cases, making "crack taxes" a popular law-enforcement tool. But whether such taxes that cross the line into criminal law enforcement actually represent good tax policy is another question altogether.


http://www.taxfoundation.org/blog/show/2113.html

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“Race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now.” --Barack Obama

How about the government quits spending more money than it takes in and quits taxing everything under the sun because they can't budget worth a (*)(*)(*)(*)

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For real coverage of the Iraq war see
http://michaelyon-online.com/

"In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man’s becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American…"

^^Appropriate smiley. What a joke.

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Society is produced by our wants and government by our wickedness ~Thomas Paine

I can budget your ass to nero

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If you want to be respected by others the great thing is to respect yourself. Only by that, only by self-respect will you compel others to respect you.
- Fyodor Dostoevsky

The first two things a tyrant does are silence dissenting voices and take away the person’s right to bear arms. There is a reason why the founders made them our first two amendments. - unknown poster

Exactly! And it's exactly the result you can expect if/when pot is legalized.

The black market will prevail, the government will get minimal tax revenue, dopers will continue to commit crimes and supply 'cheaper reefer' than the legal brand and nothing will change.

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“Race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now.” --Barack Obama

BS, moonshiners have no effect on the alcohol business. What little effect they do have, is really nothing. Haven't you noticed that Americans love commercialism and marketing?

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Society is produced by our wants and government by our wickedness ~Thomas Paine

That's simply because moonshine tastes like gasoline.



Tell that to the cigarette black marketers....and why is there a black market? Because of the same taxes you pro-pot dopers propose on reefer.

Live and learn:

NEW YORK — The big cigarette tax increases that many states are instituting to balance their out-of-whack budgets are raising fears that the trend will make black-market smokes more profitable and lead to more cigarette smuggling.

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“Race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now.” --Barack Obama

I support legalizing marijuana and heavily taxing it. Turn a street drug into a commodity. You're not going to stop all illegal selling of it, but keeping the law the way it is doesn't help in any way. It would take away a lot of young kids' motivation to try it. If nothing else, maybe they would turn to marijuana instead of cigarettes. Still not good, but then I don't have to help pay for their lung transplant. Bottom line is, legalizing it won't hurt anything, and it just might do a little good.

I support decriminalizing marijunna and prefer it remained untaxed.

The difference between legalizing and decriminalizing is if it's legalized, it still can be bombarded with legal restrictions. But decriminalized, you can grow, buy, and sell your own without government being able to do a (*)(*)(*)(*) thing about it.