Pot A Tax Windfall?

[Fern]

Pot A Tax Windfall?

I think so, as long as they don't make the tax too high (no pun intended).

If the taxes are too high, you pull criminals right back into it. You might also motivate many to grow their own. Keep the taxes reasonable enough and they may not bother. It would be so much easier to drive down to the store and pick up some high quality weed of their choice.

Fern

 

[Anarchist420]

I think virginia should legalize it but va shouldn't tax it. Taxing it would keep it cartelized because it already is taxed and we see how that has worked out.

 

[Anarchist420]

I think so, as long as they don't make the tax too high (no pun intended).

If the taxes are too high, you pull criminals right back into it. You might also motivate many to grow their own. Keep the taxes reasonable enough and they may not bother. It would be so much easier to drive down to the store and pick up some high quality weed of their choice.

Fern

The problem is when does the tax become too high? I think that any tax on it at all would be too high.

 

[Fern]

The problem is when does the tax become too high? I think that any tax on it at all would be too high.

I don't where the demarcation is, but , e.g., I wouldn't care about paying a tax of $5 per oz. You slap a $100 tax per oz and I'd be growing my own even if it were dirt weed.

My point is that at some point a tax gets too high and provides a strong motivation to evade it. In this case we'd be back to illegal dealers selling black market weed or people just opting to grow their own.

I absolutely think there's a good deal of revenue to be had by legalizing and taxing if done correctly.

Fern

 

[Ns1]

I don't where the demarcation is, but , e.g., I wouldn't care about paying a tax of $5 per oz. You slap a $100 tax per oz and I'd be growing my own even if it were dirt weed.

My point is that at some point a tax gets too high and provides a strong motivation to evade it. In this case we'd be back to illegal dealers selling black market weed or people just opting to grow their own.

I absolutely think there's a good deal of revenue to be had by legalizing and taxing if done correctly.

Fern

yep, trading one black market for another. But at least with legalization, we won't be outsourcing marijuana production.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

I'm in Oregon and this is the first I've heard of the measure (80). I try to avoid political advertisements like mad during this season though, so maybe there's a big marketing push and I've just conveniently avoided it. Seems that people would be talking more about it, regardless...

 

[DominionSeraph]

Just that it would be a big financial benefit, between the savings on law enforcement and tax revenue. I think it's a bad idea to use it, but legalization has big benefits.

I doubt it's anywhere near as big as you think it is.
Other drugs will still be illegal so law enforcement will still be just as active. And let's face it, once anyone can casually smoke at any time, the hardcore users aren't going to have a counterculture to hide behind -- they'll just be outed as the losers they are. "Doing pot" is going to be like "sniffing paint."

 

[Ns1]

"Smoking pot" is going to be like "drinking a beer"

FTFY

 

[DominionSeraph]

FTFY

The difference is pot is retarded.

 

[Ns1]

The difference is pot is retarded.

 

[DominionSeraph]

>Steve Jobs
ROFLMAO!

 

[woolfe9999]

In reality, it doesn't matter what states do because it is still illegal at the fed level. Instead of the state charging you, the feds show up at your door. Still just as arrested.

The feds only have the resources to go after large growers and traffickers. As a practical matter, statewide de-criminalization will mean that small grower and sellers, and of course individual users, will get no harassment from law enforcement. And if enough states legalize it, eventually it will become politically viable for federal elected officials to start backing it at the federal level.

 

[wirednuts]

Its the most curious issue..apparently, most polls say a majority of people favor decriminalization or even outright legalization...one can only think that other forces are at work to keep it illegal...

insurance companies push international corporate treaties to outline things like drug testing. it doesnt mean they get discounts, but they dont get charged premiums like they do if they dont drug test.

thats the real reason the light got so bad against marijuana. it was never about taking our personal freedoms away. its purely money. and now that we let it get so bad, we have privatized prison systems and international drug companies who lobby to protect their own investments....

whats weird is, if the drug companies do get their way we would have legal weed. they want to patent plants, and if that happens we will be able to buy it, but it will be behind a pharmacy counter for ridiculously high prices because only one company will be allowed to sell it- and we wont be allowed to produce it on our own.

 

[wirednuts]

The feds only have the resources to go after large growers and traffickers. As a practical matter, statewide de-criminalization will mean that small grower and sellers, and of course individual users, will get no harassment from law enforcement. And if enough states legalize it, eventually it will become politically viable for federal elected officials to start backing it at the federal level.

thats how federal laws get changed. if most of the states agree on something, it becomes federal law usually

 

[unokitty]

The feds only have the resources to go after large growers and traffickers. As a practical matter, statewide de-criminalization will mean that small grower and sellers, and of course individual users, will get no harassment from law enforcement. And if enough states legalize it, eventually it will become politically viable for federal elected officials to start backing it at the federal level.

That's an interesting observation. The feds don't really have the numbers to do user level enforcement.

If a state were to be deriving tax funds from the sale, obviously that would create a political tension.

At the federal level, all it would take would be a directive from the president to make enforcement a low priority among the feds.

But since we're not hearing too much from the people in the three states, I'm suspecting that none of these initiatives have much chance of passing.

While I don't think that the status quo can hold forever, it has held since when? Nixon's war on drugs?

Oh, well.

Uno

 

[wirednuts]

the only problem i have is legalizing weed wont stop the drug war. all drugs should be legal for anyone over 21. control it, sure. make it as evil as sudafed. but dont go putting people in jail just for possessing personal amounts. its completely counterproductive.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Just that it would be a big financial benefit, between the savings on law enforcement and tax revenue. I think it's a bad idea to use it, but legalization has big benefits.

I sure hope that it passes in one of those states and that those states that pass it enjoy a nice tax revenue benefit as well as decreased criminal justice costs. Let it become an example for people in other states.

 

[dawp]

Its the most curious issue..apparently, most polls say a majority of people favor decriminalization or even outright legalization...one can only think that other forces are at work to keep it illegal...

there is a massive bit of machinery in place to fight it and they will fight tooth and nail to keep it in place, too much invested just to reverse course.

 

[mchammer187]

I think the savings on drug related incarceration would be a big boon.

If we could theoretically reduce our prison population by half and if only half of those people end up being productive members of society than that is definitely huge. We waste something like 50K keeping a single person in prison for a year over the most retarded things (nonviolent drug related offenses)

According to Wikipedia 55% of federal and 21% of state prison populations are drug related. Not sure the breakdown of violent vs nonviolent though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_incarceration_rate

I have no idea how much of this is pot related vs other drugs but hopefully this is a big step in the right direction.

 

[Smoblikat]

It only took close to a hundred years for people to realize that the war on drugs only helps the cartels/government.

I think the savings on drug related incarceration would be a big boon.

If we could theoretically reduce our prison population by half and if only half of those people end up being productive members of society than that is definitely huge. We waste something like 50K keeping a single person in prison for a year over the most retarded things (nonviolent drug related offenses)

According to Wikipedia 55% of federal and 21% of state prison populations are drug related. Not sure the breakdown of violent vs nonviolent though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_incarceration_rate

I have no idea how much of this is pot related vs other drugs but hopefully this is a big step in the right direction.

Most of the drug crimes in prison are for cannabis, same with rehab places. Ive seen DEA and other associated retards use the fact that rehab centers have an overwhelmingly disproportionate amount of people in there for weed, so it should stay illegal. What they didnt say was that 97% of them that are in there are in there against there will (court ordered, it was either rehab or jail)

 

[Vdubchaos]

Yeah you're right, who cares about personal freedom?

I didn't say anything about personal freedom.

Laws do NOT stop personal freedom? Has anyone stopped you from smoking weed?

 

[unokitty]

I think the savings on drug related incarceration would be a big boon.

If we could theoretically reduce our prison population by half and if only half of those people end up being productive members of society than that is definitely huge. We waste something like 50K keeping a single person in prison for a year over the most retarded things (nonviolent drug related offenses)

According to Wikipedia 55% of federal and 21% of state prison populations are drug related. Not sure the breakdown of violent vs nonviolent though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_incarceration_rate

I have no idea how much of this is pot related vs other drugs but hopefully this is a big step in the right direction.

I agree that money savings would be a major positive. In a similar manner, an interruption in the money flow to the drug gangs in Mexico and other places would be positive as well.

At the same time, as one of the other posters observed, there is a status quo of drug/anti-drug infrastructure that would likely oppose legalisation.

Still, as time goes on, the situation seems to resemble prohibition more and more...

Uno

 

[wirednuts]

Still, as time goes on, the situation seems to resemble prohibition more and more...

Uno

uh.. i agree but i thought that has been obvious since the 60's

 

[hal2kilo]

That's an interesting observation. The feds don't really have the numbers to do user level enforcement.

If a state were to be deriving tax funds from the sale, obviously that would create a political tension.

At the federal level, all it would take would be a directive from the president to make enforcement a low priority among the feds.

But since we're not hearing too much from the people in the three states, I'm suspecting that none of these initiatives have much chance of passing.

While I don't think that the status quo can hold forever, it has held since when? Nixon's war on drugs?

Oh, well.

Uno

I will be voting yes on I-502 in Washington states' election by mail-in ballot.

 

[IGBT]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/release...th+&+Medicine+News)&utm_content=Google+Reader

ScienceDaily (Sep. 10, 2012) — A new study from the University of Southern California (USC) has found a link between recreational marijuana use and an increased risk of developing subtypes of testicular cancer that tend to carry a somewhat worse prognosis. Published early online in Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the findings suggest that the potential cancer-causing effects of marijuana on testicular cells should be considered not only in personal decisions regarding recreational drug use, but also when marijuana and its derivatives are used for therapeutic purposes in young male patients.