That's usually what happens. Look at alcohol, the numbers (otherwise known as the daily pick 3 and various other off shoots like lotto, powerball, etc), and pretty much everything government made illegal but is now legal. Government claims a monopoly, a crony cartel, and/or a very high tax rate.
A few years back, before pot was legalized at Washington state, I was at a farmers’ market in the Seattle area. An elderly couple was soliciting signatures on a legalization petition and were calling people’s attention with a banner that read:
1. Legalize it 2. Regulate it 3. Tax it
I told them it’s a shame they had to ruin their message with points 2 and 3 and declined to sign.
Nowadays it seems that in order to agree to decriminalize anything, socially-conservative liberals (i.e., the many liberals who actually lead a fairly conservative lifestyle) want to see “concessions” in the form of over the top taxation and extensive regulations.
And like all taxation people are finding ways to avoid paying. I have relatives in CO and instead of going to a 'regulated' pot shop and paying the 30% premium, they're just finding individuals selling from the their home, where they're allowed to keep X number of plants and paying for it in cash for a lot less.
That's the irony, rather than eliminating the cartels and dealers, which legalization does, the Govt has kept them alive by imposing a huge tax.
I live in Washington State and was visiting a friend when his dealer (I prefer entrepreneur) stopped over and said his business hadn't been impacted at all and predicted it would increase.
That's usually what happens. Look at alcohol, the numbers (otherwise known as the daily pick 3 and various other off shoots like lotto, powerball, etc), and pretty much everything government made illegal but is now legal. Government claims a monopoly, a crony cartel, and/or a very high tax rate.
ReplyDeleteA few years back, before pot was legalized at Washington state, I was at a farmers’ market in the Seattle area. An elderly couple was soliciting signatures on a legalization petition and were calling people’s attention with a banner that read:
ReplyDelete1. Legalize it
2. Regulate it
3. Tax it
I told them it’s a shame they had to ruin their message with points 2 and 3 and declined to sign.
Nowadays it seems that in order to agree to decriminalize anything, socially-conservative liberals (i.e., the many liberals who actually lead a fairly conservative lifestyle) want to see “concessions” in the form of over the top taxation and extensive regulations.
And like all taxation people are finding ways to avoid paying. I have relatives in CO and instead of going to a 'regulated' pot shop and paying the 30% premium, they're just finding individuals selling from the their home, where they're allowed to keep X number of plants and paying for it in cash for a lot less.
ReplyDeleteThat's the irony, rather than eliminating the cartels and dealers, which legalization does, the Govt has kept them alive by imposing a huge tax.
I live in Washington State and was visiting a friend when his dealer (I prefer entrepreneur) stopped over and said his business hadn't been impacted at all and predicted it would increase.
ReplyDelete