Nashville Judge: Crack Tax Unconstitutional

WVLT-TV (TN) ^ | Jul 12, 2006

[Wristpin]

No inebriation without taxation!

[ctdonath2]

No. NFA is a tax on legal products.

[Lurker]

In Illinois it was supposed to accompany the 'product' kind of like the one a cigarette package.

I don't know if they still sell them or not.

L

[srotaG adirolF]

When I first saw this article I thought they were talking about kids with their pants hanging below their waist showing their underwear. I was gonna say instead of taxing them they should fine them for indecency.

Government (state, local, and da fedz) trying to find more money schemes to fund their enormous debt.

[GATOR NAVY]

...the government trying to have it both ways.

Yep.

[DancesWithBolsheviks]

Should the state have to prove that I was actually productive before it punishes my productivity with an income tax?

[nemesis443]

This law was passed to make seizure of drug dealer assets easier. Before, law enforcement had to go through foreiture proceedings, which was a drawn out process. When it comes to the tax, if you have a stamp you can't be assessed and your assets seized for the tax liability. No stamp, then you're out of luck. The law was based on a 10 year old North Carolina law. This does not keep you out of jail. It merely makes it harder for the state to seize a drug dealer's assets if he has the stamp. And taxpayer confidentiality laws prevent the information from being relayed to law enforcement if someone does buy a stamp.

[gdc314]

wow...the WOD has gotten really weird...

[AmericaUnited]

Good decision.

[muawiyah]

The same way hookers report their income ~ use Form 1040.

[ChildOfThe60s]

But don't they have to get 1099's from them clients?

[muawiyah]

Nope ~ IRS will take your word for it.

[ZULU]

Isn't this the way they caught Al Capone????

This judge must have been snorting some hot stuff before he came up with this decision. They should check his nostrils out.

[baltoga]

The tax evasion question does offer some parallels, but only addresses undeclared income. However, the Crack Tax requires that the person charged must either admit or deny possession, which is a form self-incrimination and therefore unconstitutional.

[muawiyah]

Maybe it's not a form of self-incrimination. Property taxes, and excise taxes, both require you to declare what you have. In a couple of hundred years of operation under this Constitution in this country, folks have not gotten away with avoidng tax payments on stuff just because it wasn't legal to possess it.

BTW, this "crack tax" is an excise tax is it not? The Constitution lays few restrictions on such things.

[AndrewB]

Allow me..

[Know your rights]

"The requested URL /images?q=tbn:Y3SbJZhyDaNugM:www.armyofmom.com/4-8-06%2520redneck%2520butt%2520crack.jpg was not found on this server."

[nemesis443]

Only if they're talking to the police. The Department Of Revenue under the law has to treat anyone who buys a stamp the same as they have to with a business filing sales tax or an individual filing on his interest income and dividends ( the only individual income taxed in Tennessee). It is confidential taxpayer information.