Author: Pat Oglesby

What can you tax in a populace that distrusts government (as our Founders intended) but then goes overboard, and undermines it?  That is, what can government find and measure, in such a way that the public can trust that the tax is being paid?

Some countries, like Finland, go so far as to publish income tax payments, which are posted online by newspapers. That’s transparent.

Our standard local property tax can be pretty transparent. The tax value of property in many states is a matter of public record, and on the internet. Folks who don’t pay get their names put in the paper, and maybe their property sold at auction. There is the possibility that some government official is colluding with taxpayers to undervalue property, or count phantom payments, bills, but that seems like a minor worry in the United States. I feel like property tax corruption is not a huge problem.

Payments of cannabis taxes in Washington State are on the public record. Continue reading “What should Greece tax?”

Colorado’s license fees are considerably higher than Washington’s, with charges

between $2,750 and $14,000 with an additional $5,000 application fee for new

businesses. Washington charges only $250 to apply and $1,000 per year for a

marijuana business license.  — Stanford paper.

“Licenses are also highly flexible when compared to sales or excise taxes because as long as they reflect the reasonable costs of state regulation—including the costs of protecting against a vast array of externalities like public safety, hospital visits, drug rehabilitation, education, and increased administrative costs—they can be imposed by local and state governments without voter or legislative approval.” — Stanford paper.

Think of the externalities for gasoline.

Click to access SLS%20Marijuana%20Policy%20Practicum%20Report.pdf

Lots on discussion of agencies.  One option is have someone like Pierre duPont did for Delaware right after Prohibition — a One-Person Commissioner, not a Commission.  And for putting that office on the ballot, with an extremely short term.

On revenue, paraphrasing:

The state could collect substantial revenues from selling and taxing the privilege to sell and consume marijuana. https://www.law.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/publication/988796/doc/slspublic/SLS%20Marijuana%20Policy%20Practicum%20Report.pdf

In Gulliver’s Travels, we see this, as a contrast to Vice taxes:  Tax envy-producing qualities, as reported and assessed by the taxpayer himself.   For example, the “highest Tax was upon Men who are the greatest Favourites of the other Sex, and the Assessments, according to the Number and Nature of the Favours they have received; for which, they are allowed to be their own Vouchers.” Call it the “Swaggering Stud” tax.

From https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=gulliver%27s

Caps on nouns omitted in this copy.

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Gulliver’s Travels, by Jonathan Swift

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or

re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

with this eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org

Continue reading “Gulliver’s Travels — Full text, searchable”

Gulliver looks at tax policy, in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels:

I heard a very warm debate between two professors, about the most commodious and effectual ways and means of raising money, without grieving the subject.  The first affirmed, “the justest method would be, to lay a certain tax upon vices and folly; and the sum fixed upon every man to be rated, after the fairest manner, by a jury of his neighbours.”  The second was of an opinion directly contrary; “to tax those qualities of body and mind, for which men chiefly value themselves; the rate to be more or less, according to the degrees of excelling; the decision whereof should be left entirely to their own breast.”  The highest tax was upon men who are the greatest favourites of the other sex, Continue reading “Gulliver’s Taxes”

Backing up posts manually, I came across one from May 30, 2010: “Free choice to use tobacco and alcohol — Tax free!”

Tax cannabis like corn flakes? Here, from the Raleigh newspaper, is a pure expression of that view. Taxes that “should be abolished” include “all differential excise taxes on tobacco, alcohol and entertainment.”  The link has expired, so my old blog post is the only place I can find it. This is a point of view I disagree with, but I can’t prove it wrong. It prevails or loses, depending on who has the votes. Continue reading “Tax marijuana like milk?”

Please feel free to download and and save and repost anything on this website, http://www.newrevenue.org, with attribution.  Godaddy gave me a scare, indicating that this website would disappear on June 24 unless I engaged in some computer work that’s beyond me.  I think I’ve dodged that bullet, but general principles call for saving content routinely.  That, too, involving “file transfer protocol,” is beyond me.   When I lose the rest of my marbles, this website will soon vanish.  For what it’s worth.

I was talking about the California Blue Ribbon Commission and the taxation of cannabis with an elected official in North Carolina, one who spends a lot of time saying the same thing over and over.  (A lot of this time involves battling the other side of the political spectrum.)  This official expressed some envy about tackling something new — about questions we don’t have answers for.

It would be very useful to index the taxes on alcohol and fuels (gasoline, jet fuel) for inflation.  To me, that’s an obvious reform.  But if I were to take up that reform as an issue, I would have to say the same thing over and over again:  Index these taxes.  Even though I make plenty of mistakes, it’s more fun to work on unplowed ground.

.

This was news to me before the ACLU of WA-WOLA trip to Spokane, which educated me about this practice, already described in an article from September 2014:

“Unlike many banks worried about the drug’s federally illegal status, Spokane’s Numerica Credit Union has offered accounts to marijuana growers and processors (retailers are not allowed). Numerica wouldn’t confirm the number of accounts it’s opened or the amount of its application or monthly fees, though a spokesperson said special fees were necessary for the ‘initial and ongoing due diligence’ on the accounts. Growers and retailers tell the Inlander the application fee alone is $1,000.”

The rationale I heard for “no-retailers” is Continue reading “WA Credit union accepts cannabis growers”

Chris Law just finished law school in DC and is studying for the California Bar.  I read an early version of this paper and thought it was super.  Pdf is easier to read: Legalized Recreational Marijuana and the Black-Market Challenge.  (Thanks, Chris.)  Here are four key recommendations:

1.  States Should Avoid Price-Based Taxes Adopted by Colorado and Washington Because of the Potential for a Price Collapse;    2. Recreational Marijuana Taxes Should Start Low and Gradually Increase as the Market Matures;  3.  States Should Structure Taxes to Help Businesses Make Deductions on Federal Taxes;  4.  States Should Implement Policies to Reduce Competition Between Recreational and Medical Marijuana Markets.

++++++++++

Legalized Recreational Marijuana and the Black-Market Challenge: Early Lessons for Future Pot Laws

 

Christopher Law Continue reading “Early Lessons for Future Pot Laws — Chris Law”

Julio Calzada, drug czar of Uruguay:  “We had begun working with a low tax; now we have a flexible tax, which will be able to move. Our law allows for that, and at least our low tax – that’s what allows us to compete with the black market. Eventually as the legal market develops and grows we could raise taxes.”  here or at https://vimeo.com/130489985 at the 40’24” mark

UPDATE:  Bryce Pardo says that rates have not been set yet.  So I guess this statement indicates intention rather than fact.  If you listen to the Spanish, Impuestos = taxes.

Intros, then questions and answers:  An hour and five minutes. Link here, or https://vimeo.com/130489985

This is part of the Workshop, https://aclu-wa.org/cannabis2015.  At the public marijuana subcommittee summit in Spokane, WA, June 11, with featured guests: Continue reading “Spokane cannabis workshop video”

Regular and heavy users of cannabis are at risk of overdoing it, as the RAND Report for Vermont points out. How might cannabis businesses attempt to target them?

Some options include bulk pricing, customer rewards, sales promotions, and loyalty discounts, like buy 10 and then get one at cost (which we saw in Spokane with the ACLU-WOLA group), or buy 10 and get one for free.

Still, a standard bulk discount is hard to argue with. For instance, if you buy a gallon of milk, you pay less per ounce than if you buy 8 pints.  But taxing by weight, rather than by price, takes away some of the benefit of the bulk discount to the heavy user. Continue reading “Tax large buyers”

 

Video soon, I think.  Part of the Workshop, https://aclu-wa.org/cannabis2015.  At the public marijuana subcommittee summit in Spokane, WA with featured guests:

· Julio Calzada (Immediate Past Secretary General of the National Drugs Board;of Uruguay Continue reading “Spokane panel”

The ACLU of Washington State and the Washington (D.C.) Office on Latin America have assembled a fantastic set of reference materials on evaluation of cannabis legalization policies.  Click here or go to https://aclu-wa.org/cannabis2015, which leads to a reference materials and a five-page reading list.

The reading list is reachable directly here or at https://aclu-wa.org/sites/default/files/attachments/Cannabis%20Policy%20Evaluation%20Workshop%20-%20RECOMMENDED%20READING.pdf