A Budget Cure: Marijuana Taxes?

[Galaxy]

Didn't notice that this was posted already in:

http://boards.cannabis.com/activism/...ana-taxes.html

Galaxy Reviewed by Galaxy on 05-07-2009. A Budget Cure: Marijuana Taxes? Didn't notice that this was posted already in: http://boards.cannabis.com/activism/170976-budget-cure-marijuana-taxes.html Rating: 5

[Galaxy]

Can Taxing Pot Fix Our Broken Economic System?

Friday, May 8, 2009, 10:08

Prohibition ended because the economy needed a boost. According to Harvard economist Jeff Miron, the countryâ??s revenue was bottoming out and an infusion was needed to keep the country afloat. Alcohol to the rescue.

Could marijuana offer the same boost to the Americaâ??s flagging economy? According to an article written by John Dyer of MSN Money, Daniel Stein believes that it can. According to Daniel Stein who actually sells medicinal marijuana through his own Marijuana dispensary, believes that if Washington put aside itâ??s bias and took a hard look at the revenue taxing marijuana could bring in they could start to balance the books now.

Daniel Stein owns two retail marijuana outlets. By his own claims he is making upwards of one million dollars in revenue and paying sales taxes of about $80,000 a year to the state of California. While California is happy to take Steinâ??s $80,000, the federal government does not recognize his endeavors as a gainful enterprise. As such the federal government does not benefit from any monies taken in from Steinâ??s medicinal marijuana sales.

According to Dyer, the government is losing money as they battle to shut down Steinâ??s and otherâ??s medical marijuana dispensaries. Stein says, â??imagine how much money the feds would save if they stopped cracking down on sellers.â?�

â??Cannabis is good for the economy. Itâ??s been here the whole time, but itâ??s had a bad rap the entire time,â?� adds Stein.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy admits that marijuana is the most popular of the illicit drugs in the United States.

According to Time magazine in the article â??An American Pastime:Smoking Potâ?� that referenced a survey undertaken by the Public Library of Science that showed that Americans are far more likely to have tried marijuana, at least once. The Netherlands which have far less stringent laws on marijuana usage has a lower percentage, 20%, of people who have actually tried pot as compared to America where the percentage stands at 42%.

Link: Can Taxing Pot Fix Our Broken Economic System? - Associated Content
Source: Associated Content, Inc.
Author: Demetria Dixon