Struggling States Considering Legalizing Marijuana, Taxing Porn In Order To Raise Revenue

[babylonsister]

Struggling States Look to Unorthodox Taxes
By JESSE McKINLEY
Published: February 28, 2009


In his 11 years in the Washington Legislature, Representative Mark Miloscia says he has supported all manner of methods to fill the state’s coffers, including increasing fees on property owners to help the homeless and taxes on alcohol and cigarettes, most of which, he said, passed “without a peep.”

And so it was last month that Mr. Miloscia, a Democrat, decided he might try to “find a new tax source” — pornography.

The response, however, was a turn-off.

“People came down on me like a ton of bricks,” said Mr. Miloscia, who proposed an 18.5 percent sales tax on items like sex toys and adult magazines. “I didn’t quite understand. Apparently porn is right up there with Mom and apple pie.”

Mr. Miloscia’s proposal died at the committee level, but he is far from the only legislator floating unorthodox ideas as more than two-thirds of the states face budget shortfalls.

“The most common phrase you hear from the states is ‘Everything is on the table,’ ” said Arturo Perez, a fiscal analyst with National Conference of State Legislatures, who predicted the worst financial year for states since the end of World War II.

Nowhere is that more true than California, where Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, a freshman from San Francisco, made a proposal intended to increase revenue, and, no doubt, appetite: legalizing and taxing marijuana, a major — if technically illegal — crop in the state.

“We’re all jonesing now for money,” Mr. Ammiano said. “And there’s this enormous industry out there.”

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/us/01sin.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

[Taverner]

1. Tax weed

Make cash off of it

[annabanana]

4. sounds like a plan...

I'd be perfectly happy to pony up a coupla bucks to Uncle Sam to be able to, say, walk into a liquor store and pick up an oz of something nice..

[Taverner]

6. Definitely

Of course I was hoping CA would be the first to legalize, and invent the "Pot Tourism" scene here

[grannie4peace]

5. i'd pay that tax

[annabanana]

2. "porn is right up there with Mom and apple pie"

this just gives me a case of the giggles...

[Hello_Kitty]

3. The problem with that is you have to first define "porn". It's too subjective.

It makes much more sense to tax a discrete product like weed.

[dustbunnie]

10. What's subjective about magazines and sex aid toys?

Seems pretty straightforward. Anything you buy in a sex store, aside from clothing, would be taxed.

[pink-o]

7. We could wipe out our deficit with taxing weed. Humbolt county would be the richest in the state!

[anigbrowl]

9. No, we couldn't. But it would help.

Be realistic, our budget deficit in CA is $42 billion. Our weed industry is estimated at about $10-13 billion, and Ammiano's bill would raise about a billion in annual revenue for the state, as well as reducing some costs for law enforcement (but presumably adding some for regulatory functions). This is a Good Thing, but it's not going to automagically fix the state finances.

[Royal Sloan 09]

8. K n R

solution = Legalize

Yes, We Cannabis!

:kick: :hippie::think: :smoke: