Interesting new tax

[jainen]

Interesting new tax in Oakland, California, this morning--1.8% on sales of marijuana. The dispensaries lobbied FOR the tax on themselves, while the government opposed it. The arguments of course are couched in terms of revenue, but it is really just a new twist on our country's long history of using taxation for social engineering.

[joanmcq]

I heard that. If they are paying additional taxes, alot harder to get rid of the product...now the talk would be about 'lost revenue'. Smart move!

[taxxcpa]

They passed a marijuana stamp tax in Texas several years ago. I think they sold some as "collectors items" rather than to pot dealers. A client who worked for the State Comptroller showed me one he had bought.

[Monkeyman]

They passed a marijuana stamp tax in Texas several years ago. I think they sold some as "collectors items" rather than to pot dealers. A client who worked for the State Comptroller showed me one he had bought.

taxxcpa,

This is actually a subject that I am fairly well versed in.

If I am not mistaken, this was Marihuana (spelled with an H) Tax Act of 1937.

It was basically an act passed to prohibit the growth of industrial and recreation strains of hemp.

Industrial hemp has been used for thousands of years for clothing, seed, food, and paper.

It was used in the US for hundreds of years, until blatant corporate espionage brought about this act.

The February 1937 issue of Popular Science touted hemp as the nest "billion dollar crop" because of it's usefulness.

The emerging petro-chemical and logging industries launched a campaign to link industrial hemp with it's wacky weed cousin, so hemp would not interfere with their business.

The result was this tax act, and scare tactics like the film "Reefer Madness".

-Industrial hemp provides 4 times as much pulp per acre as trees, and 10 times as much fiber as cotton per acre.

-Hemp requires no pesticides or herbicides. It chokes out it's own weeds and the bugs aren't interested.

-Hemp is virtually drug free, you would literally need to smoke a telephone pole-sized cigarette to have any effect.

-Hemp seeds are second only in protein content to the soybean.

-Hemp's cellulose content is much higher than corn, making it ideal for ethanol production.

-When George Bush Sr. jumped out of airplanes during WWII, his boots, backpack, and parachute were made from hemp.

For the record, I do not participate in or advocate the use of the recreational strain of marijuana.

It's medicinal properties, however, are another issue.

*kerry stepping down from his environmentalist soap box*

Kerry