Tennessee: Sounds like the Soviet Union to me - Drug Tax Law

[Egalia]

Saturday, June 04, 2005
Got Constitutional Rights? No Arrest, No Guilt Required for State to Punish/Seize All Your Property

Tennessee: Sounds like the Soviet Union to me . . .

Today's Tennessean has a story on the horrific violation of constitutional rights that Tennessee lawmakers endorsed with their passage of the drug tax stamp law last year. Not only is no guilt needed for the state to seize everything you own, no arrest is needed!

When a number of Tennessee lawmakers were recently arrested for taking bribes, lawmakers and the Governor, himself, repeatedly insisted that said lawmakers were 'innocent until proven guilty.'

How laughable that sounded to me. In this state, the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty is a right that state lawmakers reserve for themselves. To hell with the rest of us.

I've read this outrageous law (the Soviet Union would have been proud) and will have more on my family's ongoing nightmare soon.

Other than figuring out how to deal with a state that shows absolutely no respect for the constitutional right of due process, we are wondering if we really want to continue to live in such a terrifying state. Once we get through this nightmare, it may be time to look for, I dunno, a place that values freedom. A place that respects the rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.

From today's Tennessean:

"There has to be in America some responsibility for the government to prove the citizen did something wrong before it punishes the citizen."

No arrest needed for state to tax illegal drugs Defense lawyers say Tennessee's new law is ripe for abuse . . .

. . .

http://guerillawomentn.blogspot.com/2005/06/got-constitutional-rights-no-arrest-no.html

[DBoon]

1. Civil asset forfeiture is evil

This shit being passed for the "war on drugs" is eliminating the constitutional right to trial.

What it's about is depriving criminal defendant of the ability to hire a decent attorney.

[sam sarrha]

2. We WON the Civil War..dumb-ass. 'Corruption' is the State Bird here..

... it is just curruption ..taking what you want that dont belong to you.. cuzz u got the power

[damntexdem]

3. When Dubya gets all his judicial appointees confirmed ...

the courts will likely allow practices that go way beyond this. Welcome to Germany in the late 1930s!

[Egalia]

7. yes

When they came for my former husband, they wore jack-books, bullet-proof vests and carried 9 millimeters. As I wrote in an earlier thread, they took his money, his cars, levied his home. What country is this???

[NashVegas]

4. Here's the Bizarre Part

"Under the law, drug traffickers must go to any of the state revenue offices within 48 hours of coming into possession of illegal drugs. They pay a tax on the value of the illegal drugs and get a stamp to show they have paid.

Taxpayer privacy laws keep Department of Revenue officials from reporting these people to police agencies, state officials said."


http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050604/NEWS03/506040363

[Egalia]

6. yeah but

they don't keep law enforcement agents from standing outside the door and following you after you buy the stamps - and thus admit guilt.

There is nothing in the law that prohibits this.

[Egalia]

5. I read the law

It says the purpose is to raise revenue. Hah. The state has the most regressive tax system in the country; the highest sales tax in the country, at almost 10%. And that includes food.

Tennessee lawmakers refuse to implement an income tax, but who needs to when they can simply seize your bank account, your cars, your home?

My family needs to get out of here. Is it better anywhere in this friggin country?

[Tux]

8. No

Christians have spread like a cancer. They are everywhere, destroying all that is good in this nation. They are taking away our rights, our freedoms, and soon our lives. Britian looks good since they have low levels of Christians and keep them in their place. I'll be damned if they'll kill me for being independant of their cult.

[Egalia]

9. update

I've updated the post and included links, including ones to the law and to the state's Registration and Purchase Requistion for Unauthorized Substance Tax Stamps. It lists the tax rates for various drugs.

http://guerillawomentn.blogspot.com/2005/06/tn-drug-tax-law-no-arrest-no-guilt.html