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Taxes On Drug Dealers? Lawmaker Wants the Money For Cops
Curt Woodward | Seattle Post Intelligencer | January 16, 2006

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Betting that black-market cash can aid efforts to fight crime, a maverick Republican lawmaker is pushing a plan to fund police by taxing drug dealers.

The illegal drug excise tax, patterned after measures adopted in nearly half the country, would set up a state system to distribute tax stamps for illegal drugs and alcohol.

Dealers busted with drugs or moonshine not bearing the stamps would be assessed the specific tax rates in addition to any criminal fees - ranging from $3.50 per gram of marijuana to $200 for each gram of cocaine.

"It's just our little way of saying 'Thank you' for bringing some money into the state, even though you do it the wrong way, said the measure's sponsor, Rep. Tom Campbell, R-Roy.

"It's my little way of righting a wrong, I guess."

The more controversial part of Campbell's plan, however, may be how the taxes are spent: he hopes the proceeds can pay for a new statewide detective agency carved from the Washington State Patrol.

That measure, which essentially would restrict the state's bowtied top cops to traffic duty, is drawing lukewarm reaction from the politically respected agency.

Patrol officials haven't yet taken a public position on the measure, but the agency's leaders do believe the state needs more police investigators, said Capt. Jeff DeVere, the patrol's top spokesman.

"We're in the top 10 for identity theft, auto theft, as well as methamphetamines. And we're 50th in the nation with regard to police officers per population," DeVere said.

Campbell said his plan would tap into the patrol's existing crime expertise, likely transferring its roster of investigators and specialists to the new Washington Bureau of Investigation.

The bureau would operate on a par with the State Patrol and a new fire protection office, which also would be split from the patrol's oversight.

A new appointed public safety director would be in charge of all three agencies.

The statewide detective agency would focus on drugs, organized crime, identity theft and public corruption cases. It also would assist local police, operate a forensics lab and maintain the state criminal information system.

Campbell hopes the agency could reap large rewards from the proposed drug tax, which sends three quarters of its proceeds to police agencies that bust dealers.

Both measures are due for their initial public hearings this week.

"It really bothers me when I see how much it costs to put somebody in jail, and we have to pay for their attorney and all this," Campbell said.

Activists for drug policy reform say the plan is foolhardy, and won't generate much money for the state.

Roger Goodman, director of the drug policy project for the King County Bar Association, said drug taxes are mainly a "a nice symbolic gesture - 'We're going to make the drug dealers pay.'

"But we're beyond the rhetoric now. We can't afford this tough talk. We need to have more smart strategy."

Allen St. Pierre, executive director of marijuana-legalization group NORML, said seeing the proposal surface in Washington is surprising - the state is one of a handful that allow doctors to prescribe marijuana, and Seattle voters have instructed police to make pot possession their lowest priority.

"It may be well-intentioned," St. Pierre said. "In fact, when the grist is examined in the millstone, it is just bad public policy."

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The drug tax bill is HB2448. The state patrol bill is HB2472.

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dedbr

for methamphetamines, and they are wasting time on taxing herb and moonshine,or at least trying to?

Watson, a clue...a clue to how stupid these people really are I guess. The house is burning down and they are screaming for hot dog's....

Deddy

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MrIMStoned

Here's an idea: Make pot and meth and moonshine legal.

Then you can tax everyone who buys it.

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Larz

Is it me, or is this kind of thing just another charge to slap on people caught dealing/using?

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TheNewGuy

Thats pretty much the point of it, yes.

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MikeC420

Does this insane lawmaker actually think that someone that is selling illegal drugs (breaking the law) is going to buy a fu**king tax and follow the law? And at the same time incriminate themselves. Anyone with half a brain can figure this out, so why is this a##hole legislator trying to pull this?
Criminals by nature don't follow the law. (with the number of laws in the U.S. practically everyone is some kind of criminal)

Besides that, The Feds already tried this B S back in the 30's:

"In the United States, the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act (strictly the 1937 Marihuana Tax Act) was one of the cornerstone bills that led to the criminalization of Cannabis. It was introduced to U.S. Congress by Harry Anslinger, then Commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics." - wikepedia.org "1937 Marijuana Tax Act"

Then the feds wouldn't issue the stamps.

The Feds claim that all of these illegal drugs are the cause of society's evils, yet want to profit from their sale to the same people that they claim they desperately want to protect from these substances. They want to lock you up if they catch you with your sh*t and want you to pay taxes on it while your not caught. Kinda makes one think, what is their real objective? It's certainly not the public health. It's more like lining their pockets anyway they can. It's extortion under the color of law.

As a matter of fact,

"In 1969 in Timothy Leary vs. US, this act was found to be unconstitutional since it violated the Fifth Amendment, since a person seeking the tax stamp would have to incriminate him/herself. In response the Controlled Substance Act of 1970 was passed." - wikipedia.org "1937 Marijuana Tax Act"

This has already tried and failed. Thank God.
This legisator is a parasite of our government living off of the labor of the industrious. He needs to be voted out of office permanantly.

Peace and smoke up

TheNewGuy

Ummm, actually yes, some have. I read an article on someone doing this for a couple pounds of pot somewhere in the midwest. Also, buying stamps isn't against the law, so you aren't incriminating yourself by doing this.

MikeC420

"Also, buying stamps isn't against the law, so you aren't incriminating yourself by doing this."

Hey TheNewGuy,

Yeah, while techinally you're not "incriminating" yourself in that you're probably not going to get arrested while you buy your stamps...but you're basically telling the government where you live and why you bought those stamps. Next thing you know you're being watched by the cops and eventually some bullsh*t happens when you got some JBTs breaking down your door at 4:30 am with automatic weapons drawn and won't hesitate to kill you one bit when you're reachin for a lighter and if you live bust you over some ash or a seed.

So in reality, actually you are incriminating yourself...use some common sense. When you go and buy your tax stamps you will have to give them your name and address so that they have a record of who paid the tax. Why admit illegal activity. That's against the 5th amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Know your rights and don't be stupid.

"There is nothing more dangerous in the world than sincere ignornace and conscientious stupidity" - MLK


peace

urania3

In one recent case in Arizona a man was arrested for selling marijuana, and he had a license and had the tax stamps on his product. A judge decided that if the state sold him a license, they shouldn't arrest him for selling the product so licensed. The judge dismissed the charges against the fellow.

TX: Even Illegal Drugs Are Now Taxed, 12-23-2005, posted by Buzzby.

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TheNewGuy

Thanks, before you told me to use common sense and not to be stupid, I was all for not using common sense and being stupid. Was it your goal to sound like a dick?

By buying stamps you aren't admitting anything, it isn't against anything in the constitution.

In this particular case, this man's "conscientious stupidity" kept him out of jail.

Oh no, its the cops, quick, pull out your lighter!

?