Only in North Carolina

[boxboy28]

http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20080904/news/809040294&tc=yahoo

N.C. sends tax bill to Asheville duo charged in marijuana case


Published: Thursday, September 4, 2008 at 7:37 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, September 4, 2008 at 7:39 a.m.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) -- The state of North Carolina has sent a $88,866 tax bill to two people charged with marijuana offenses after Buncombe County authorities seized 114 plants this summer.

Darwin Bisping is a pizza delivery driver who was charged with manufacturing marijuana and trafficking in July after the plants were found at his Asheville home. Housemate Jennifer McCart also was charged.

Buncombe County Sheriff Van Duncan says officials notify state revenue agents when a drug arrest is made. The Asheville Citizen-Times reports Thursday that state law allows taxation of illegal drugs.

Bisping says he doesn't think it is right to be taxed on "something you can't even legally grow."

[Getback]

Pretty much the same line that Capone used.

[Elfie]

If they didn't get to sell the stuff, how are they being taxed on it? Furthermore, what idiot actually thinks they have the money to pay the tax bill if they didn't get to sell the product?

[SD67]

If and only IF they can prove income gained from sale then IMO they should be charged income tax on whatever they could prove they made from the sale.

[APDrone]

It's not just NC.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/02/18/pf/taxes/strangetaxesupdate/

Get a load of the revenue numbers.

I think Minnesota was the first state to tax illegal drugs.. the premise being that by claiming taxes owed by those busted by posession, the state would get to claim $$$ from the seized cash before it went to the feds.

[bongaroo]

Legalize it, then taxing it won't seem so silly.   

[CAP1]

soooooo.......


you get caught by the feds growing something illegal, and they confiscate al of your belongings. they say because your belongings were gained by using illegal money(as it was obtained through the sale of illegal substance)
 so to extend a bit, if the local governments tax the illegal money earned illegally, through the sale of illegal substance, then doesn't that make that tax money illegal? wonder if the feds will try to confiscate the local govt.'s property, since there will be drug money tied to it?

[Elfie]

soooooo.......


you get caught by the feds growing something illegal, and they confiscate al of your belongings. they say because your belongings were gained by using illegal money(as it was obtained through the sale of illegal substance)
 so to extend a bit, if the local governments tax the illegal money earned illegally, through the sale of illegal substance, then doesn't that make that tax money illegal? wonder if the feds will try to confiscate the local govt.'s property, since there will be drug money tied to it?

What I'm reading in this story is, their plants were confiscated (no sales) and they are still being taxed on them. If there has been no sale on the stuff, how can they legally tax it especially considering a government agency has the plants and presumably destroyed them?

[APDrone]

Don't get sales tax confused with stamp taxes.

Stamp taxes are taxes you pay once you've 'acquired' the product, not sold it. Like cigarettes. When you buy a pack of smokes, there will be a stamp indicating a tax has already been paid on that item by the vendor( or somebody else in the distribution line )  The amount of taxes necessary vary by state.. but it looks like $3.50 per gram of weed vs.  $200 per gram of other controlled substance ( cocaine, heroin.. etc )

This way,  when a driver gets busted on the interstate with 100 kilos of cocaine and $1,000,000 in cash, the state steps in and grabs $200,000 in 'tax' revenue.. plus any penalties, I would imagine, right out of the $1,000,000 cash.   

[GtoRA2]

Wasnt unjust tax laws one of the reasons we started to kill the brits?

[Shamus]

What I'm reading in this story is, their plants were confiscated (no sales) and they are still being taxed on them. If there has been no sale on the stuff, how can they legally tax it especially considering a government agency has the plants and presumably destroyed them?

Because they have the power to do so.

The government probably claimed ongoing criminal enterprise, that way you have to prove that you don't owe the taxes, you know "ok Mr pot grower, prove to our satisfaction that you didn't have a crop last year"

shamus

[CAP1]

Because they have the power to do so.

The government probably claimed ongoing criminal enterprise, that way you have to prove that you don't owe the taxes, you know "ok Mr pot grower, prove to our satisfaction that you didn't have a crop last year"

shamus

that's easy...........did you catch me this year, or last year?

or a better one........i don't have to prove i didn't, but rather YOU have to prove that i DID 

[Shamus]

that's easy...........did you catch me this year, or last year?

or a better one........i don't have to prove i didn't, but rather YOU have to prove that i DID 

You haven't tangled with very many taxing authorities have ya?. 

shamus 

[bongaroo]

Wasnt unjust tax laws one of the reasons we started to kill the brits?

one of

[CAP1]

You haven't tangled with very many taxing authorities have ya?. 

shamus 

nope