Folks have to pay income tax ANYWAY. Just keep 280E, so marijuana sellers can’t deduct selling expenses. The rich, or at least high earners, pay more in this economically progressive way – and don’t have the federal government reaching its tentacles into the capillaries of hemp drug trade. (MORE’s ad valorem tax could turn out to be amazingly intrusive.) 280E requires no new bureaucracy – not a single form. Selling expenses are not so easily disguised.
Here’s the Argument that 280E should be the only federal hemp drug tax ever: It was designed as punishment. It’s that high — it’s more than enough. But by now, the marijuana community can manage 280E as well as any new other tax. The devil you know.
Ads and marketing are a good target for a tax. Retailers hire their own lobbyists, because they’re the ones 280E hurts, but some of the marijuana community I’m familiar with says, “Who needs retailers? We did fine for years without them.”
Anti-weed-ad diatribe is at https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2015/12/18/how-bob-dole-got-america-addicted-to-marijuana-taxes/#disqus_thread.
The Center for New Revenue 