cannabisnews.com: Spitzer Proposal: Tax Marijuana, Other Substances





Spitzer Proposal: Tax Marijuana, Other Substances
Posted by CN Staff on January 23, 2008 at 16:33:13 PT
By Melissa Mansfield
Source: Newsday
Albany, NY -- If you want to smoke pot, you have to pay taxes.Gov. Eliot Spitzer's budget proposal included a bill that would require all marijuana and other controlled substances in the state to have a tax stamp. Twenty-nine states, from Massachusetts to Nevada, currently tax drugs.
Spitzer estimates the collection could bring in $13 million this fiscal year, and $17 million the next.Budget officials said they researched other states' laws to come up with the fees and regulations, though they were doubtful many dealers or users would contact the Department of Taxation and Finance. If people brought in on charges had drugs without a tax stamp, they would then be charged the appropriate taxes.The bill sets a tax stamp rate for marijuana of $3.50 per gram, and for other controlled substances $200 per gram, regardless of purity. The bill includes a confidentiality clause, which would allow people to request a tax stamp from the state and, in return, their information would not be given to the police.Alcohol was also targeted in the budget proposal. One bill would place flavored malt beverages, such as hard lemonade, in a new, separate category of alcoholic beverages for taxing purposes. They would be taxed at the rate of $2.54 per gallon or 67 cents per liter. Beer is taxed at 11 cents per gallon.Source: Newsday (NY)Author: Melissa MansfieldPublished: January 23, 2008 Copyright: 2008 Newsday Inc.Contact: letters newsday.comWebsite: http://www.newsday.com/CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #19 posted by JohnO on January 24, 2008 at 21:21:27 PT:
Leary VS the United States
This has already seen it's day in the US supreme court, the use of Marijuana tax stamps by any Federal, State or Local municipality has been declared unconstitutional. Why are they trying this again? 
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Comment #18 posted by fight_4_freedom on January 24, 2008 at 18:31:02 PT:
Yeah I agree
This will be an important election so we should pay attention to what all the candidates are saying. Even the fake plastic ones. lol
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Comment #17 posted by FoM on January 24, 2008 at 18:26:35 PT
Ken
He's ok when I think of him as Ken! LOL!
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Comment #16 posted by FoM on January 24, 2008 at 18:25:23 PT
fight_4_freedom
I'm watching it. I've watched all the debates on CNN, Fox or MSNBC. I think to be fair that we should. We should have open minds is what I mean. No one is right or wrong all the time so that is how I learn. So far it has been fine.
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Comment #15 posted by fight_4_freedom on January 24, 2008 at 18:21:33 PT:
Republican Debate on MSNBC
if anybody can stand watching "Ken" Romney and the rest of these guys anymore lol.At least Ron Paul agrees with us.
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Comment #14 posted by FoM on January 24, 2008 at 17:25:02 PT
BUDSNAXZ 
I really don't have any idea.
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Comment #13 posted by BUDSNAXZ on January 24, 2008 at 17:12:56 PT
FOM
FOM,Does he have a website I might be able to get his address from?ThanksMac
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Comment #12 posted by FoM on January 24, 2008 at 04:30:15 PT
BUDSNAXZ 
If you e-mail him I'm sure he will answer.
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Comment #11 posted by Sinsemilla Jones on January 24, 2008 at 03:39:50 PT
No Taxation Without Legalization!
nfm
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Comment #10 posted by BUDSNAXZ on January 24, 2008 at 00:25:04 PT
OT Missing Mayan
FOM, 
I must have missed something in here awhile back because I haven't seen any commentary from Mayan for some time now and I was getting worried. Is there something I missed? I hope he hasn't become ill or gotten into any trouble with the prohibitionists.Peace all
Mac 
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Comment #9 posted by john wayne on January 23, 2008 at 22:15:19 PT
This has failed several legal challenges.
Based on the 5th amendment. You can't be forced to incriminate yourself. Buying a tax stamp for a supposedly criminal act is not legally justifiable under the 5th amendment.But buttneck stupid legislators will continue to pass this shit, just to grandstand to....whom exactly?
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Comment #8 posted by fight_4_freedom on January 23, 2008 at 21:55:57 PT:
Interview with pro wrestler Rob Van Dam
I met this guy at a big music festival a few years back. Really nice guy. And as you can probably guess, his arms were as big as my entire body lol."You believe that marijuana should be legalized, correct?"Absolutely. And I think anybody that looks into the truth, if they’re not for legalizing it then they just don’t care about it. But anybody that says that there’s any logical reason that a plant that grows in the wild that zero people on the planet have overdosed from should be classified as a Schedule I controlled substance by the [Drug Enforcement Administration] with heroin and acid, and is one of the deadliest drugs with no medical benefits whatsoever – people knows that’s [nonsense]. I’m strongly for the legalization. I divide the argument into three categories: there’s recreational, there’s medicinal and there’s even material. You can make over 25,000 products with hemp, which doesn’t even have THC. It’s just a plant that they have outlawed by assimilating it with marijuana. Henry Ford made a car out of hemp fiber and it ran on hempseed oil. Nobody knows about that because DuPont buried it and said, “We can make a lot more money off destroying the planet and making plastics.” The more you look into it, the more you’ll learn that it was completely [nonsense]. Marijuana was outlawed in 1937 for causing violence and promiscuity, and if you smoked enough you would go insane. They’ve never gone back and said, “Oh, by the way, everybody, that was [nonsense].” Material, medicinal and recreational – the fact is it rates higher in effectiveness and safety than its competitors in all three categories."I can see you’ve definitely done your homework on this subject."I’ve done years of research. Yes, at one time, I might have just been a stoner. Now people like that actually offend me when they come up and go (doing an exaggerated “stoner” voice) “Hey, Rob, you ever stand on your head and try. … ” No, it’s not even about that. Those are the people who add to the stereotypes. That’s why people want to ban it – it sends a wrong message to kids. Well, kids shouldn’t [have sex], but I don’t think we should ban that. There are certain things that are for adults."You were the WWE and ECW champion when you and Sabu were charged with drug possession in Ohio. You immediately dropped both titles and your push was derailed. If that incident hadn’t happened, do you think things would have turned out differently?"There was no way that I was going to be the longest-reigning world champion in WWE (laughs). Nobody thinks that. People like to say that the plans were dropped for ECW because of that night – heck no. Most people think that was just a transitional moment anyway. From my perspective, when people say that couldn’t have happened at a worse time, I always say it couldn’t have happened at a better time. You’re never going to hear me apologize for that. The fact is if I wasn’t the WWE and ECW world champion at the time, nobody would have cared. It wouldn’t have been all over the news. But because it was, it drew a lot of attention to a very important fact. Whenever celebrities, especially pro athletes, get in the news for marijuana, it helps change the climate of marijuana. People say, “Wait, you can be a world champion graceful athlete who can walk the ropes and do back-flips – and smoke cannabis? How can that be?”"Whatever happened with those charges?"I paid a $100 fine for possession of marijuana. However, since the WWE suspended me it ended up costing me like $30,000 or $40,000 easily. And you know what? I asked for more time off at the end of the 30 days. That was one of my favorite months of my contract. That’s how much I wanted out of there and how much I missed being home.
Full Baltimore Sun Article
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Comment #7 posted by RevRayGreen on January 23, 2008 at 20:34:23 PT
I want
what they are smoking.
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Comment #6 posted by fight_4_freedom on January 23, 2008 at 19:58:13 PT:
How dumb do they really think we are????
Or I guess the proper question would be, how dumb can THEY be?
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Comment #5 posted by Hope on January 23, 2008 at 19:53:12 PT
Sheer Greed.
That's the ONLY point if what they are doing. They're literally drooling... over money and shadenfruede. 
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Comment #4 posted by fight_4_freedom on January 23, 2008 at 19:48:56 PT:
North County Times Cannabis Discussion
http://tinyurl.com/2sz3yv Cannabis discussion going on below the story. You can leave comments without having to sign up. Join in if you'd like.
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Comment #3 posted by RevRayGreen on January 23, 2008 at 18:26:23 PT
$3.50 a gram :(
no matter what the quality, not everyone can afford chronic like you Gov. At $60 or so for decent commercial oz. vs. 3.5 grams of good bud for $60 ???? so no tax to grow my own :)
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Comment #2 posted by MikeC on January 23, 2008 at 17:59:13 PT
What a shame...
I thought at one time Spitzer was going to be a pioneer in decrim and eventually legalization.
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Comment #1 posted by Yanxor on January 23, 2008 at 17:36:32 PT
sheer bs
I remember reading something to this affect for other states...this is perhaps the most ridiculous idea ever.You can't have something be illegal and expect to reap tax profits from it. Also, charging dealers taxes once they are busted sounds very much like being punished twice for the same crime.But on the other hand - the tax would make sense if NY did the following with the money.1. Legalized cannabis.
2. Lobbied the federal government to legalize cannabis and tax it.
3. Protect the tax-payer from federal prosecution.If any state did those three and charged a cannabis tax, I would gladly contact the Department of Taxation and Finance and promptly purchase a stamp for every last gram.
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