Comments on: Marijuana Taxes

By: Ripper

Ripper — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 01:38:56 +0000

Prohibition was done via constitutional amendment. There is no amendment in place for marijuana, therefore the current federal laws are obviously illegal.

By: Frank Brown

Frank Brown — Sun, 19 Apr 2015 17:55:34 +0000

In Washington State, the legalization of marijuana and the refusal of the federally-controlled banking system to work with marijuana businesses has led to a huge increase in money laundering. In my small town, there are 5 e-cigarette (“vape”) shops that do not themselves sell marijuana, all within a downtown where most large buildings have been out of commerce for a generation. I doubt there is enough business for even one of those shops to make a profit doing what they claim to do. This gives rise to the inference that they’re doing something else.

Combine this with the nearby casinos, and you have a perfect storm of money laundering from God knows what regional organized crime activities. If I were a mob strategist, I’d have my illegal cash proceeds first run through marijuana retailers, who then take their cash from “marijuana sales” to the casino which I control and bet it all on red. The house wins most of the time, which allows for accurate statistical projections (the exceptions are noise over the long term). That’s all any business needs. I report the cash income as gambling intake on the casino’s taxes, and issue a 1099 to any poor underling who occasionally wins. I have the bank come pick up my now squeaky clean money by the armored car load.

I used to support marijuana legalization until I looked at the Washington law and the effects it is having. It hands even more power to organized crime and has a corrupting effect on everything it touches.

By: Bob Sykes

Bob Sykes — Sun, 19 Apr 2015 11:49:40 +0000

One first has to note that marijuana is illegal in every jurisdiction of the US because federal law bans it. Colorado’s so-called legalization depends on a federal government that will not enforce its own laws. But that can change in a single election.

More to the point, Europe’s experience shows that legalization of various things and services does not eliminate the black market in them. Black market profits are usually higher than legal markets because the black marketeers do not pay taxes or minimum wages or health insurance and use direct action to settle disputes rather than lawyers. The whole Colorado, San Francisco thingy is based on delusion.