What They're Smoking in Annapolis to Generate New Revenues
from
MyFOX DC ANNAPOLIS, Md. - A Maryland lawmaker has introduced a bill to legalize marijuana.
Delegate Curt Anderson introduced the measure in the House of Delegates on Thursday.
It would make marijuana legal for adults 21 and over and create a system to regulate and tax it like alcohol.
The measure introduced by the Baltimore Democrat also would direct the Maryland comptroller to license marijuana retail stores, wholesale facilities and testing facilities.
The bill would create an excise tax of $50 per ounce on wholesale sales and direct proceeds to fund treatment programs to prevent alcohol, tobacco and drug abuse.
Last November, voters in Colorado and Washington state approved measures to make marijuana legal for adults 21 and older.
There will be one helluva black market if such an excise tax is imposed.
ReplyDeleteAlways on Watch:
ReplyDeleteI disagree. A black market only emerges when the government mandated price (or tax) of anything wildly exceeds availability.
With a puny $50 tax on an ounce of pot that retails for $350 total, I doubt that the $50 will create much if any black market. Now, if that tax is jacked up to $350, then we'll see lots of alternatives pop up on the black market.
Fredd,
ReplyDeleteMaybe.
But try to tell moonshiners something like that.
So many of these people get a thrill out of doing something outside the law. Anti-establishment and all that.
Always:
ReplyDelete'Maybe' back atcha.
Moonshining is more of a cultural thing than an economic thing these days, although money has it's charm. Gramps had a still, Pappy had a still, I got a still and my boy takes over my still when the revenooers get me.
For what it's worth, you don't need to be into growing pot to stick a thumb into 'The Man's' eye, because being anti-establishment is just part of being a teenager.