There are so many philosophical issues involved in this story it boggles the mind, but the salient point is that the government's "authority" to levy taxes is the most powerful and most easily enforced "law" now existing in the "land of the free." Never mind that drug trafficking is illegal, these tax stamps are required by law or else the act is, what, double-secret illegal? And the tax rates are truly ludicrous: $98 on an ounce of pot worth a hundred bucks, and $200 on a gram of coke or speed worth about a hundred bucks. And if you don't move the goods in 90 days the stamps expire and you have to pay the full tax again in order to remain "legal."
This is preposterous. The next ridiculous tax stamp will probably be for speeding, at twice the cost of a speeding ticket and expiring monthly! And if you're caught speeding without a tax stamp they can fine you double the tax plus $10,000, summarily confiscate your property to cover the fines, and jail you for 5 years. I'd gladly trade the "war on drugs" for a war on insane taxation.
Posted by JohnGalt at June 4, 2003 10:02 AMLike Babs's house, this nicely invalidates so many things that I oppose, you've gotta like it.
First, it admits that taxation is an effective means of State coercion. They are not doing this to raise revenue.
Secondly, it undermines the War on Drugs as being ineffective on its own.
Frederic Bastiat said that just law must be understandable and avoidable to preclude capricious enforcement. Tax law is incomprehensible, drug law is (for some) unavoidable. Score two for M. Bastiat!
Posted by: jk at June 4, 2003 12:57 PMThis is one of the dumbest things I ever heard of. If they are so concerned with making sure that drug dealers don't get a tax break, why don't they eliminate the income tax and instead use a sales tax. That way, no matter how you earn your money, you still have to pay taxes when you make purchases.
Posted by: Melissa at June 4, 2003 02:06 PMAmen! Consumption based taxation is the answer. The only trouble is that it will take power from all the people who have to support it and vote for it.
Posted by: jk at June 4, 2003 02:43 PM