I’m in the legal camp the government is not my judge and jury
The government always lies. We were told gambling in my county would lower property taxes. The sheeple actually believed it.
Of course the false promise isn’t the tax money, it’s how they’re spending it. The money is coming in (about $150M in 2 years) but, surprise surprise, the government isn’t spending it the way they said they would.
Would federal legalization kill the drug trade? Would drug cartels move to cocaine, heroin, and meth? Would the crime rate drop as marijuana becomes legal?
I could never prove it, but I have always thought that marijuana was a gateway drug, not because of some physical chemical mechanism, but because in order to buy it you have to deal with the criminal element, who can then push you onto other drugs such as heroin or crack.
Limit the exposure to the pushers, limit the opportunities for pushers to push other drugs.
Maybe? Dunno.
I heard one of my State Legislators on the radio last week, supporting the legalizing of it in my state. Pardon the language, but he sounded as if he was about to ‘cream his jeans’ over the tax money he would get to spend.
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Did they calculate how much they are going to save from not enforcing these stupid laws? That’s part of the revenue equation too. Probably more would be saved from ending the tyranny than is to be collected in taxes.
This is clearly a "puff" piece for the ignorant, low info anti-pot voters out there. I see it worked.
Is there any hard facts on the increase in usage due to pot being legalized? If I had to make a guess, I’d say these people were using it anyway, legal or not.
How about the money saved from all the criminal prosecutions that are no longer happening? There is a monetary benefit from both sides of the equation.
That said, this is about freedom, not money. Oh, and I’ve not touched the stuff since 1997, nor do i intend to.
The argument that something should be legalized because it can then be taxed has to one of the stupidest arguments around.
If the State needs money, it can tax anything it pleases, at any rate it pleases, without legalizing something hitherto illegal.
As most banks don’t want to be involved in a federal crime, these are all cash businesses.
Anyone care to imagine how many transactions are never recorded in an all cash business? Especially with nice high tax rates to pocket?
That $27 million will be a pipe dream in a year. They’ll be lucky if it generates $6 million.
Is it not amazing that states suck revenue from things you go to prison for— like “numbers” and drugs. It is a sad commentary on our national integrity. I’m ashamed of it.
“In fact Denver Public Schools has recently had a large lay off and will be requesting HALF A BILLION dollars from tax payers this fall.”
As if that is a recent phenomenon and not caused by the same decades-old issues that plague EVERY liberal city in America...
Gambling. Pot. Liquor. The Left is always promising a tax bonanza from legalizing vice. The tax revenue never lives up to the hype and all that happens is that the Dems’ cronies end up running the casinos or liquor stores or pot dispensaries. Its just a way to engage in crony capitalism to create a regulated industry that is beholden to the Dem politicians.
I bet the pizza, ice cream, and Doritos distributors love their little munchies increases.
“In fact Denver Public Schools has recently had a large lay off and will be requesting HALF A BILLION dollars from tax payers this fall.”
DPS is a taxpayer ripoff that spends monies not on education but buildings for admin types and for special projects no related to education. They should be defunded for decades until the money they already squandered has been accounted for,
So how has the war on weed been doing for almost a hundred years? Is it any less available because it’s illegal? Kids can still get if they want , right? Alcohol prohibition was a total failure. Has drug prohibition been a success? How much longer will the war on weed and other drugs go on until it is a success? Or admitted as being a failure?
I suspect tax payers in Rip Blanco, Garfield, and other Western Slope counties will end up participating in this funding scheme.