Originally Posted by XC700116
Colorado AR-15 Shooters Club Discussion Forums
Welcome to the Colorado AR-15 Shooters Club Discussion Forums.
Welcome to the Colorado AR-15 Shooters Club Discussion Forums.
"There are no finger prints under water."
I know I shouldn't wish that on anything, but honestly, when you consider the way that alcohol, tobacco, and NFA items are taxed, I figure, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Simply put it would put it back on par with the rest of the things in this country that are regulated by the .gov Anyone who thinks that a tax isn't going to come along with it, if it were to happen is completely off their rocker, it's WAY too ripe of a target. That and in return for not being chased by cops and dealing with the illegality issue, you pay a tax on it. Yeah that seems like extortion, but it's no different than any other tax we pay, in order to avoid having to fight the tax man in court.
Then considder that there already is, and will be a perception of more ills related to it and it's legalization, that would shortciruit the objections based on the damage to the public treasury due to it's legalization. Then considder the fact that it's pretty tough to tax your garden, and you get the opportunity to grow your own for your own uses if you see fit. If not IMHO why should it be sheltered from taxes any differently than any other item that's bought and sold. Hell even a straight up sales tax (local standard sales taxes like you pay on anything) would probably suffice for the funds needed to offset any costs. Especially when you considder the savings to the public that not having to deal with it in it's current form would produce.
Point being, IMO, you can't expect to legalize a commodity, and not have it taxed. And when you compare the taxes attached to Alcohol and Tobacco, I think that qualifies as both fair in context and HEAVILY.
Since I'm an OK native with family & friends there, I'd love to take a few guns with me on visits for some range time with my brothers. But with this BS going on I'm scared shitless to even bring my CCW. Even though I have a CO CHP and OK has reciprocity with CO, I don't want any roadside bullshit cavity searches because I'm a "goddamn Colorado drug runner with a gun". OK cops tend to have a strong redneck streak don'tcha know....
There's a lot more of us ugly mf'ers out here than there are of you pretty people!
- Frank Zappa
Scrotum Diem - bag the day!
It's all shits and giggles until someone giggles and shits.....
You're not the only one who's had this thought cross their mind, I'm just waiting on it to happen to me. 99 times out of 100 when I leave the state in my personal vehicle there's at least 1 firearm in the vehicle, typically more than one.
Thank god my company truck has NE plates, as that's what I'm driving 90% of the time I leave CO via 4 wheels. I also can't carry a firearm in it though so it's not much of a big deal, but I don't get pulled over at the drop of a hat in it either.
Will this effect buying magazines and private sales of rifles while traveling to such great states?
I like sex, drugs and automatic weapons. That's why i'm a dues paying member of the Libertarian party. Struggling to keep the government away from messing with the above.
My Wife has her own vice.
No one ever said it should be legal without the commerce portion being taxed, but why heavily? You didn't (and can't) supply an argument for HEAVY taxation. Heavy taxing won't keep the police off your back, because no amount of heavy taxing is going to make up for the loss of departments stealing money and product for people accused of running drugs.
"There are no finger prints under water."
Hahahahahaha, maybe. But if it's legalized coast to coast (in a similar fashion to Alcohol and Tobacco), the cops can't really do jack about it. Granted if you're hauling bails across the border from Mexico, you're going to have problems, but to the average joe pot smoker, there isn't shit they could do anymore.
Anyway my point being, my version of heavy taxation and others may be different.
Look at tobacco for instance, That's what I would consider HEAVY Taxation. CO has a state excise tax of 84 cents per pack of cigs or can of chew, then the feds tack on $1.01 for a grand total of roughly 37% on top of standard sales tax. IMO that's a HEAVY tax and IMO MJ shouldn't be regulated nor taxed any differently. Spirits are taxed in CO at a rate of $2.28 per gallon, beer at a rate of 8 cents per gallon wine at 32 cents per gallon. Those are all in addition to sales tax and federal excise taxes. Hell Gasoline is taxed at nearly 40 cents per gallon on average here between CO and Fed taxes (depends on price but that is 2014's average). IMO anything that's taxed above and beyond standard sales taxes assigned to regular items is HEAVILY taxed.
And as I've said before, why should MJ be exempt to these same taxes that are placed on Alcohol, tobacco, and Gasoline? NFA items hell, I just paid a $200 tax on top of sales tax for a suppressor that cost $450, That's a tax rate of 50.4%!!!!!
Now finally consider the amount of tax revenue from tobacco in CO, In 2011 the annual tax revenue was $200,594,000 I'm willing to bet that's a LOT more than the value of drug related seizures. see http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfa....cfm?Docid=403 (and notice the figures shown are thousands of dollars so multiply each number by 1000 to get the total $$ in tax revenue)
Now consider the projected numbers for CO Revenue from MJ this year at the current rate of 12.9% (less than half that of tobacco BTW) is $610 million, that makes up for a hell of a lot of cars, houses, cash, and other misc stuff being seized and sold at auction.
Last edited by XC700116; 12-25-2014 at 23:08.
I understand what you are saying, I just can't bring myself to say that because one thing is heavily taxed, then something else should be, because I believe too strongly that neither should be heavily taxed. I think the Federal gas tax is closer to $1.00 a gallon isn't it? I can't argue right now that weed is any different than any other product that has a sin tax put on it.
"There are no finger prints under water."
http://taxfoundation.org/article/sta...ohol-tax-rates
Federal gas taxes are 18.4 cents per gallon, that's tax only not all the epa fees, tank fees, etc on top of that, which is a tax of course, but like Obama care and CO license plates we're supposed to believe that those aren't taxes. Not to mention the upstream taxes of petro products during the extraction, refining, and logistical processes (this is roughly the same on all products in that those taxes are ultimately paid by the consumer as they are passed down in the costs of production)
I agree in a perfect world none of these things should be taxed the way they are, but in the reality of the situation, if you're taking something that's currently prohibited, like MJ and previously Alcohol, to think it's not going to get the same scrutiny and thereby taxes, is just not realistic. Hell Gasoline and diesel are 100% necessary to the function of our economy and they aren't immune to it. Simply put its better to tax it and get something back into the .gov for it than it is to spend billions a year trying to prohibit it. Maybe (and I realize this is completely star eyed) it could provide an avenue to lighten up on some of the other taxes we all have to pay, a portion of which is dedicated to fighting the "war on drugs" aka bottomless hole of tax dollars wasted over stupidity.
Last edited by XC700116; 12-25-2014 at 23:23.
All sin taxes should be done away with since they have been proven ineffective in curbing the consumption of the products they are taxing. The ATF should be abolished as tobacco & alcohol don't need federal oversight or regulation. These should be state regulated. And are they really using the taxes for the stated purpose? Isn't Colorado's tobacco tax used to fund child healthcare? The MJ tax is for schools. None of the taxes are being used to address the negative social aspects of the products.
We need to stop adding power and taxation ability to the federal government. If the feds would decriminalize MJ, the states would be free to do as their citizens see fit. But then why should a product that is legal in 1 state be illegal in others. I don't see how state gun laws pass this test. A piece of plastic in WY is legal, but not in CO.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote