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LEGAL POT WOULD BE CALIFORNIA'S NUMBER ONE CROP
CNN - Although fiscal year 2009 was grim for states, observers predict that 2010 will be even worse. "The numbers that states are looking at in terms of their shortfalls is truly staggering. And all of this is happening in an environment where raising taxes is still pretty toxic, and it's pretty explosive," said Sujit Canaga Retna, a senior fiscal analyst for the Council of State Governments.
Instead of raising taxes, states are putting taxes and fees on specific items and services as they try to decrease their budget gaps. . .
One of the more controversial ideas is to legalize the sale of marijuana, as proposed in a bill introduced in California's state legislature by Democratic State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano this year. The bill proposed taxing pot by $50 per ounce. If legalized, marijuana could become California's No. 1 cash crop, bringing in an estimated $1 billion a year in state taxes.
The bill was shelved this session, but a revised version will probably be reintroduced.
Instead of raising taxes, states are putting taxes and fees on specific items and services as they try to decrease their budget gaps. . .
One of the more controversial ideas is to legalize the sale of marijuana, as proposed in a bill introduced in California's state legislature by Democratic State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano this year. The bill proposed taxing pot by $50 per ounce. If legalized, marijuana could become California's No. 1 cash crop, bringing in an estimated $1 billion a year in state taxes.
The bill was shelved this session, but a revised version will probably be reintroduced.
posted by TPR | 1:48 PM
4 Comments:
Make cancer and AIDS patients pay an extra $50 an ounce for their medication. Great idea.
Raise $1 billion in taxes and save $10 billion in enforcement, legal costs, and punishment. Who could possibly object - except for the law enforcement industry, pharmaceutical industry, penal industry, drug "treatment" industry, legal "profession," alcohol industry, and every other business that has made its fortune from prohibition of some drugs.
$50 an ounce in taxes! If pot is legal it won't be worth $50 an ounce. The only reason pot is expensive now is because it is illegal. Duh. If it's legal, let's face it, anyone with some dirt and water can grow it. Are they going to tax homegrown pot? Can't wait to see how they try to implement that. Are all politicians really this stupid?
They'll never legalize it in a way that will allow us to grow it at home. If the DEA and organized crime fail in their campaigns to prevent legalization, it will be due to the tobacco companies offering legislators enough campaign fund bribes to get the sole rights to produce and sell an adulterated product with addictive agents added. The only people who will be able to get the real thing legally will still be those with prescriptions.
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