7.25% tax on cannabis

[Tom]

California in bid to impose 7.25% sales tax on cannabis

 

FOR decades, smoking marijuana has been an illicit affair, a key anti-establishment ritual for America's counter-culture underground.

 

But the legalisation of the drug for medicinal purposes in California has presented its advocates with a dilemma: to remain firmly on the wrong side of the law or accept a demand to pay taxes on its sale.

 

Marijuana prescribed by a doctor for health reasons was decriminalised in a state-wide referendum in 1996 and has grown into a billion-dollar industry.

 

About 25,000 patients and carers are now members of the so-called pot clubs.

 

Chris Moscone, an attorney who represents the Hemp Centre, a San Francisco dispensary, said: "There are basically two camps: those that want to be treated like legitimate businesses, and the other side, who are still rebels and don't want to be taxed."

 

The situation is further clouded by differences between federal and state law. California's 150 to 200 owners of medicinal marijuana dispensaries have operated legally under state law since 1996 - but illegally under federal law.

 

And while a demand from state authorities to pay tax is seen by some as further legitimising their business in terms of the state laws, many dispensary owners fear the tax is self-incriminating and will result in punitive measures from the federal government.

 

The dispensaries have received a state notice urging them to obtain a sales permit for tax reasons. Every purchase of marijuana, which can be bought with a doctor's prescription, would be subject to California's 7.25 per cent sales tax.

 

But there appears to be substantial resistance among dispensaries to the idea - only 27 dispensary owners currently have a sales permit.

 

But financial considerations rather than counter-culture affectation may be the reason. Kris Hermes, of Americans for Safe Access, a medical marijuana advocacy group, said more dealers would probably agree to pay the tax if the bill did not include a provision for back taxes on sales over the past eight years.

 

• THE federal Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, introduced by Harry Anslinger, an anti-cannabis campaigner and commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, stipulated anyone dealing in the substance had to pay one dollar for each trade, or be fined up to $2,000. This effectively criminalised dealers and led to a nationwide crackdown.

 

In 1970, federal authorities recognised cannabis as a Schedule 1 narcotic under the Controlled Substances Act.

 

Last year, the Supreme Court upheld federal authority to prosecute the possession and use of marijuana for medical purposes.

 

The state of California, however, decriminalised marijuana in 1976 and the 1996 Compassionate Use Act established its use for conditions including cancer, MS and AIDS.

 

Author:CRAIG HOWIE IN LOS ANGELES

Date:Mon 9 Apr 2007

Source:Scotsman.com

Copyright:©2007 Scotsman.com

 

To leave comments on this article at the source: http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=542172007

 

5,500 (again)

[Jess Stone]

Pay the tax,if its taxed its legitimized,legitimized=LEGAL,otherwise it would not be called a tax it would be called a FINE ! Get the picture here? Its really legalisation achieved by different means,brilliant

 

edit: I left my 2 newpence worth at the New Scotsman(its a good newspaper more balanced than Oz papers)

Edited April 9, 2007 by Jess Stone

[WantDaChronic]

if people want cannabis freely available it will ofcourse be taxed by the government like any other drug freely available like alcohol and cigarettes. 7.25% isnt too much of a tax either, in australia there would instantly be the 10% gst + it wouldnt not suprise me in the least if the government made a new cannabis based tax just to get more money out of us

[fsagertyaef]

ill pay $7.25

[Zaknefain]

, I'll pay 7.25% tax on mj...

 

 

To pay 7.25 you would need to spend $100

[Tom]

If legalised cannabis would most likely be taxed at the same rates as other luxury items like tobacco, alcohol and that super luxury item, petrol.

 

[HighRising]

I'll happily pay the tax.

 

Imagine it, get an ABN, start your growroom, sell weed to your mates. Pay your tax, whatever.

 

Everyone would be doing it, it'd be worth nothing straight away.

[sunnycoaststoner]

yeah all well and good but how many of you are allowed to grow toobaco? zip, none of us hey.. think about it.. they legalize it, it will turn into a controlled substance like morphine and other prescription drugs so in turn the government would either take up growing it wholly and solely or only a certain number of licences would be available so they are to get the maximum price they can!! so which ever way it goes we will probably never be able to avoid persicution of some type, whether it be still for growing with out a licence or for avoiding paying taxes on your sales or for the possesion of an illiciate substance and its associated smoking utensels.