miles32791
04-26-2010, 12:51 AM
It may be long but its important read it!!! the advocate (baton rouge La)
An Al Capone-style state law that is supposed to relieve drug dealers of their bling-buying booty is yielding little cash in Louisiana.
Just as Capone went to jail for tax evasion rather than his alleged activity in organized crime, Louisiana??s Marijuana and Controlled Dangerous Substances Tax is designed to punish drug dealers through their pocketbooks. The idea is to tax their gains without violating their constitutional right against self-incrimination.
The law requires dealers to buy a stamp, lick it and slap it on their drugs ?? or face a hefty fine when they are caught without it.
The tax was supposed to bankrupt dope peddlers. But it is generating little money.
State officials point to two problems ?? law enforcement agencies failing to pursue the law and drug dealers having little money to pay the fine once they are released from prison.
In the past five years, Louisiana:
Sold 292 drug tax stamps, generating $1,022.
Assessed about $48 million in stamp violations.
Collected about $126,000 for those violations.
Most of the people buying the stamps are thought to be collectors. Stamp collector websites sell drug tax stamps from various states.
??At this point, it??s kind of a nuisance tax for us,? said Louisiana Revenue Secretary Cynthia Bridges.
For some states, the tax is generating millions of dollars, so much so that Tennessee is trying to reintroduce its tax stamp law after that state??s Supreme Court found the previous one unconstitutional.
??We (first) passed this about five years ago. They would take all the bling, all the gold and jewelry off the drug dealer,? said Tennessee state Rep. Charles Curtiss, a Democratic lawmaker who is trying to revive the tax stamp.
Kansas collected about $1 million a year the last two years from drug tax violations.
Freda Warfield, spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Revenue, said someone within the agency is assigned to tracking drug tax assessments.
:rastasmoke:Blowed:rastasmoke:
An Al Capone-style state law that is supposed to relieve drug dealers of their bling-buying booty is yielding little cash in Louisiana.
Just as Capone went to jail for tax evasion rather than his alleged activity in organized crime, Louisiana??s Marijuana and Controlled Dangerous Substances Tax is designed to punish drug dealers through their pocketbooks. The idea is to tax their gains without violating their constitutional right against self-incrimination.
The law requires dealers to buy a stamp, lick it and slap it on their drugs ?? or face a hefty fine when they are caught without it.
The tax was supposed to bankrupt dope peddlers. But it is generating little money.
State officials point to two problems ?? law enforcement agencies failing to pursue the law and drug dealers having little money to pay the fine once they are released from prison.
In the past five years, Louisiana:
Sold 292 drug tax stamps, generating $1,022.
Assessed about $48 million in stamp violations.
Collected about $126,000 for those violations.
Most of the people buying the stamps are thought to be collectors. Stamp collector websites sell drug tax stamps from various states.
??At this point, it??s kind of a nuisance tax for us,? said Louisiana Revenue Secretary Cynthia Bridges.
For some states, the tax is generating millions of dollars, so much so that Tennessee is trying to reintroduce its tax stamp law after that state??s Supreme Court found the previous one unconstitutional.
??We (first) passed this about five years ago. They would take all the bling, all the gold and jewelry off the drug dealer,? said Tennessee state Rep. Charles Curtiss, a Democratic lawmaker who is trying to revive the tax stamp.
Kansas collected about $1 million a year the last two years from drug tax violations.
Freda Warfield, spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Revenue, said someone within the agency is assigned to tracking drug tax assessments.
:rastasmoke:Blowed:rastasmoke: