The most surreal tax yet...

[Ian]

Tennessee to tax illegal drugs

Here's a current update from the Tennessee government.

Drug peddlers will be required to pay state excise taxes on illegal substances — from marijuana to moonshine, from cocaine to the often illegally obtained prescription painkiller OxyContin — under a new law that goes into effect Saturday.

The new tax would be collected in two ways:

• Drug dealers can go to any of the state revenue offices within 48 hours of coming into possession of unauthorized substances. They pay the tax and get a ''stamp'' to put on the drugs showing they have paid up. They would not be required to give their name, address, Social Security number or other identifying information. State tax collectors would be constrained by taxpayer privacy laws from reporting them to police. Still, state officials say voluntary payment is unlikely to happen often.

• The most probable way the tax will be collected is when police make drug busts. Law enforcement agencies are required to call tax officials within 48 hours detailing the drugs found.

Tax collectors then assess the tax on the drug suspects, as well as additional fines for not paying the tax in the first place. If the suspects cannot make immediate payment, the state seizes and sells any assets, such as cars, homes and personal belongings, to pay off the liability.

Paying the tax does not immunize a drug dealer from criminal prosecution, nor does nonpayment result in harsher jail sentences or fines, other than a tax penalty. Typical tax penalties are 5% of the unpaid tax liability.

''We consider this a revenue source for law enforcement's fight against narcotics and other illegal substances,'' said Al Laney, Tennessee's director of tax enforcement.

Three-fourths of the tax money collected will go to the law enforcement agency that initiated the arrest, and one-fourth will go to the state's general fund.

Okay, so on the surface it's just goofy. "You can't have this! But you do anyway, so you have to pay us." Hahaha. But underneath that surreal first impression is yet more erosion of everyone's rights.

The tax doesn't require a conviction to be assessed, and being found innocent of any charges doesn't remove a person's tax "liability". Have I mentioned double jeopardy? And, of course, the money goes almost entirely back to the cops who found something allegedly illegal in the first place. If you don't see the corruption just waiting to take over there, you're even more naive than I am.

I am curious about the potential parallels between this law and the tax situation created by the 86 ban and the NFA. Possibly some arguments used against this wacky tax could be used against the NFA?

 

[MikePGS]

Actually theres still a tax on record that is in support of the spanish american war. So maybe thats the silliest

heres a link to more info about the tax http://www.homelandstupidity.us/200...war-tax-on-telephone-service-continues-today/

 

[salvador31c]

***, so if they decide to be a tax payer they just confesed to having illegal drugs? if they get caught with out the tax stamp they get a fine?


Lets say i come into some drugs then i get pulled over and busted an hour after "owning these drugs" would i still get a fine for not having a tax stamp evern tho i have 48hrs to pay the tax this is Crazy but whatever i dont do drugs so this will never apply to me

 

[lacoochee]

Until you get pulled over in Stump Water, TN, removed from your vehicle and drugs are "found" under your front seat.......

 

[thexrayboy]

Apparently we need to tax the state lawmakers in TN. for drugs. Its obvious they had to have been smoking something strange to come up with an idea this preposterous.

 

[M2Pilot]

NC has been selling marijuana & cocaine tax stamps for some years now. I have a couple for marijuana but the coke stamps are rather dear. I think the tax to support the Spanish American war is the telephone excise tax. I think it's no longer in place & we can all get a refund for part of this on this year's Fed. tax return.

 

[Sindawe]

I think that is correct, the tax was to pay for the Spanish-American War since at that time telephones were toys of the rich (Soak the Rich taxes even back then). It was only recently repealed, and one can get a rebate for the tax if you have your phone bills for the period covered by the rebate, or a basic $40 or $60 deduction on your taxes this year.

Taxes on drugs have long been in place. The original means of controlling marijuana in this society was done via a tax ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1937_Marihuana_Tax_Act ) since it was viewed at the time that an outright ban by the feds was something they had no power to do. Sorta like what was done with automatic weapons at the time.

Of course, this was at a time when our congresscritters still had some respect for the constitution.

 

[carebear]

They want the best of both worlds, taxation without legalization.

The banners know that the argument that now illegal drugs, if taxed, would be a windfall is correct but they don't have the stones to actually do the legalizing first.

 

[Jorg Nysgerrig]

This is really nothing new. Here's an article about this sort of thing and a list of the states that do it. It's dated, but still informative. http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/misc/ct/mjtax.html

 

[GRIZ22]

Quote:

Actually theres still a tax on record that is in support of the spanish american war. So maybe thats the silliest

I believe that's the Federal Tax on your telephone bill. I guess we're still paying for the Spanish American War.

 

[Mark in California]

Hope they printed up the stamps because stamp collectors are going to buy them.

 

[gm]

lol, as if drug peddlers are going to develop amnesia and all run to file taxes on an illegal substance.I wouldnt hold my breath.


Wow, they must be a hurtin for revenue.

 

[dfaugh]

Additional revenue and/or another way to charge BGs.

Remember that Al Capone was only convicted of Income Tax Evasion.

So, even if they fail to make a "red-handed" drug case, it allows other ways to arrest the BGs and seize property.

 

[Kaylee]

This news just came out?
I thought we enacted that inanity last year.

 

[romma]

Do drug delivery people get to write off any deductions? Gasoline? Inventory loss due to theft? Etc;...

 

[TaxPhd]

Interesting question, romma.

For federal tax purposes, illegal businesses (except for drug dealers) are allowed all ordinary and necessary deductions. Exceptions being things like bribes and kickbacks. Drug dealers, on the other hand, are only allowed a cost of goods sold deduction.

I kid you not.

 

[gyp_c2]

aahh...

...just makes it simple to seize the assets for distribution to your local agencies that serve and protect...everyone wants their share...

...you didn't really think they were only going to take the dope, did you?


...substitute your favorite toys for the articles above...including your house...

 

[benEzra]

Looks like another creative legal justification for asset forfeiture, in case the State vs. One 1987 Toyota Camry logic ever dies its well-deserved death.

It's not about tax revenue, it's about the asset forfeiture.

 

[Zero_DgZ]

That, and it's another entry in the list when they throw the book at some drug dealer/user.

 

[mbt2001]

Isn't there some kind of law that states that a criminal cannot benefit from his crime? So if you kill your wife for her insurance money, and you get sent to jail for it, you do not get the insurance money...

How can the government profit from someones crime? This is sick... Why don't they just charge a state sales tax or something...

 

[carebear]

"How much for an eighth?"

"$20 bucks, man... plus $1.60 tax"

 

[romma]

"How much for an eighth?"

C'mon carebear,,, your killin' me here!

 

[Outlaws]

Why don't they just charge a state sales tax or something...

Because..........

If you legalize drugs crime would drop like a rock. Lots of DEA agents would be out of work. Cops wouldn't be responding to breaking and entering calls because crackheads wouldn't have a $200 a day habbit. Gangs wouldn't have a corner of a market to be sold on the corner. Cough syrup companies would go broke and that would of course lead the government to introduce another AIDS like disease into the populace to make up for lost revenue....even though they would actually be making lots of it from the now legal drugs, but we don't want to look like the government supports getting high now do we?
Go have a few beers and reconsider why you would even want to legalize drugs like that.

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Crime is a Virus

It is evident now (from WoD legislation, asset forfeiture, etc.) that crime is a virus.

It begins with an illegal object. Science, being unable to discern this fundamental attribute of objects, has to rely on the law to provide that guidance.

Once it is clear that an object is illegal, then everything and everyone it touches becomes contaminated and, by association, illegal itself.

For example, an illegal gun turns its owner into an illegal gun-owner. By association, his home becomes gun-crime-related property.

The only way to properly disinfect contaminated objects is through seizure and redistribution.

This protocol will soon be administered by the CDC and WHO, which will assume authority over the police.

 

[Justin]

Reason Online had a pretty good post about something similar a couple of weeks back.

Bribes, Theft, Freebies, and Other Taxes You Didn't Know You Owed


Katherine Mangu-Ward | January 4, 2007, 11:03am

"Prohibition-era gangster Al Capone contended, 'The government can't collect legal taxes from illegal money,' but he was wrong and wound up with eight years in prison for tax evasion," reports MSN Money. As tax time comes back around, the IRS would like to remind you that ill-gotten gains are taxable:

Illegal income. Illegal income, such as money from dealing illegal drugs, must be included in your income on Form 1040, line 21, or on Schedule C or Schedule C-EZ (Form 1040) if from your self-employment activity.

Kickbacks. You must include kickbacks, side commissions, push money or similar payments you receive in your income on Form 1040, line 21, or on Schedule C or Schedule C-EZ (Form 1040), if from your self-employment activity.

Stolen property. If you steal property, you must report its fair market value in your income in the year you steal it unless, in the same year, you return it to its rightful owner.

Found property. If you find and keep property that does not belong to you that has been lost or abandoned (treasure-trove), it is taxable to you at its fair market value in the first year it is your undisputed possession.

Gambling winnings. You must include your gambling winnings on Form 1040, line 21. If you itemize your deductions on Schedule A (Form 1040), you can deduct gambling losses you had during the year, but only up to the amount of your winnings.