Taxing illegal drugs?

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http://www.ksrevenue.org/faqs-abcdrugtax.htm

>.< wtf? If we are already taxing the damn stuff why shouldn't it just be sold openly?

This is for real? Isaac H. Newton! What in the hell?
So you can go to jail for intent to sell an illegal substance, and on top of that, not paying the taxes on this controlled substance you aren't even supposed to have?! !

lol this is quite honestly the stupidest thing I ever read. I want to see the guy who's great idea this was.

edit: wow I can't believe I've never heard of this. Apparently 10 states including my own have this. This is honestly the most absurd thing I've ever heard of.

I'm surprised so many of you aren't familiar with the various illegal drug taxes. It's more of a legal manipulation than a legitimate tax, like I said above.

If you what to create a black market for cheaper drugs then yes go ahead & do it.

Apparently these taxes are more trouble then they are worth. The devil is in the details like so many other things. If a drug dealer unsuccessfully tries to flush his stash down the toilet shouldn't the police wait for it to dry out before weighing it to fairly assess the tax? If a marijuana stash has a lot of seeds and stems in it the dealer can argue that they should be removed before weighing to assess the tax. The dealer can argue that since his cocaine is cut down so much it should only be taxed at half the rate. The state does get free money from stamp collectors who want the drug tax stamps for their collections though.

My state levies taxes on illegal tobacco sales too. I had the idea of actually paying the tax and getting the stamps for a trunk full of cigarettes and start an illegal cigarette selling business out of the trunk of my car. Hopefully I'd go through several trunks before getting caught and having everything seized at which point I'd produce the stamps and say that I payed taxes on that particular trunk of cigarettes.

another story

I've seen John Stossel write several interesting articles about illegal drug sales in America. I believe he even had a show about them.

It isn't about taxing drugs, but saw this article a week ago.

JOHN STOSSEL: End the Drug War, Save Black America

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/03/ ... k-america/

From the article:

I see absolutely no public policy argument against taxing illegal activity.

Drug sales represent a significant amount of economic activity, whether we approve of it or not. The money that leaves the buyer's hand was earned, and the money that comes to the seller will go on to fund other activities--most of them legitimate.

The basic principle of taxation is that it should be spread progressively, across a broad base, so that it's impact is as fair as possible. What is fair about allowing a dealer to earn significant income tax free, while his neighbour is paying tax on his own self-employment income? What is fair about putting sales and excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco, but allowing other goods to go untaxed?

And this doesn't apply merely to drugs--it applies to the entire gray market, too.

In Canada the principal is very clear. You can declare your sales (for GST/HST purposes) and income (for income tax purposes) to the CRA and that information is completely exempt from disclosure to other agencies (except for the narrow issue of tax offences).