Southeastern Excise Tax Initiatives

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I've prepared three initiatives that make use of the Excise Tax Administration Initiative that passed last weekend to transfer the “sin” taxes from State to Region authority.

These three are:

• Southeastern Alcohol Initiative
• Southeastern Tobacco Initiative
• Southeastern Hemp and Cannibis Initiative

The last one doesn't legalize cannibis, it only taxes it.  Any comments you have would be appreciated.

[Jake]

I'd be willing to support legalisation of marijuana and I hope someone will write up an initiative for it.  The only thing I ask if it is legalised is that a large tax be placed on it.  That way, the pot heads get their drug and the region gets some extra cash.  As for levels, 50 cents a cigarette and $20 a kilogram loose.

Oh and the links go to the alcohol one.  Until Ernest fixes them just type in the right number in the address bar.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The links are fixed.

Unless someone can show data for the average amount of tobacco and the average amount of marijuana in a cigarette of each, I'd like to keep ratio of the tax rate for a cigarette and for a kilogram of each  the same for both herbs.  I set the rate for marijuana to five times that of tobacco but I'm not adverse to changing that multiplier.  It is hard to say where on the Laffer curve is the optimum point for taxing pot for revenue because of the lack of data.  However, I am leery of setting the rate so high as to encourage tax evasion.  Already I've set the rate for marijuana at a level that has proven to be an incentive to try that with tobacco, altho it might not with marijuana simply because except for a few dedicated potheads, I doubt if anyone is going to smoke 40 or more such cigarettes (2 packs) a day as they do with tobacco.

[George W. Bush]

Legalization of marijuana would be a terrible idea. It’s just a new way for more people to drive under the influence, and without a breathalyzer it would be difficult to take blood or urine sample when someone got pulled over for suspicion.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Legalization is a seperate question. There aleady exist various State taxes on this stuff.  Such taxes serve two purposes at present despite the fact that pot is illegal.  One is that the tax stamps and licenses make collector's items for those who want such things, and the other is to provide an additional charge with which to nail drug dealers, and which can be used in plea bargain negotiations.

In any case, legalization at the Region level wouldn't be practical until and unless the Atlasian Senate chooses to do so.

[Sam Spade]

I'd be willing to support legalisation of marijuana and I hope someone will write up an initiative for it.  The only thing I ask if it is legalised is that a large tax be placed on it.  That way, the pot heads get their drug and the region gets some extra cash.  As for levels, 50 cents a cigarette and $20 a kilogram loose.

Oh and the links go to the alcohol one.  Until Ernest fixes them just type in the right number in the address bar.

I remember when I first got here a few months ago, there was an initiative in the Senate to get rid of all of the federal charges on marijuana and leave it back to the regions or something like that.

My memories on this are probably mistaken, though.  Tomorrow, I'll try to see if I can find the initiative.  Personally, if there was any way for us to get a bill past Congress to give the Regions the right to legalize marijuana or not and to tax it or not, I'd like that the best.

Oh, and the other initiatives look good to me also, Ernest.  My only question is that there are a lot of counties and smaller municipalities in Texas and Louisiana (and certain other states in the South) where alcohol is banned from sale.  I assume this will not affect their rights to engage in those laws.  I don't think it does, but occasionally I do miss things here and there.

Otherwise, ood work.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I didn't address local option dry counties or the like, altho I think such things are silly, so they are unaffected, as are blue laws, such as those in South Carolina, that restrict the sale of alcoholon Sundays or certain ours of the day.  The only non-tax provision in any of the three bills was that which required Albama, Mississippi, and North Carolina to get out the business of running liquor stores.

[Peter]

In any case, legalization at the Region level wouldn't be practical until and unless the Atlasian Senate chooses to do so.

Well I'm personally not entirely sure of that. If a Region tried to legalise marijuana and then the federal government tried to sue, I'm reasonably sure in myself that the Region would win.

The ONLY thing the feds can do in this respect is to stop marijuana enterring the country internationally - there is no general commerce power except to ensure free markets. Apparently cannabis used to get grown in VA in Jefferson's time, so it clearly could be grown in the US. All the feds can do is to make it illegal to import it in my opinion.

Good luck whoever tries to push it through.

[Sam Spade]

I didn't address local option dry counties or the like, altho I think such things are silly, so they are unaffected, as are blue laws, such as those in South Carolina, that restrict the sale of alcoholon Sundays or certain ours of the day.  The only non-tax provision in any of the three bills was that which required Albama, Mississippi, and North Carolina to get out the business of running liquor stores.

Thanks, Ernest.  Honestly and truthfully it's not a big concern of mine either (and I don't much care for it frankly sometimes), but I was curious.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

In any case, legalization at the Region level wouldn't be practical until and unless the Atlasian Senate chooses to do so.

Well I'm personally not entirely sure of that. If a Region tried to legalise marijuana and then the federal government tried to sue, I'm reasonably sure in myself that the Region would win.

Yes and no.  The Feds can't force the Regions to do anything except as explicitly granted by the constitution, so for example if  a Region were to pass a cannabis equivalent to the personal liberty laws that denied the use of State police and facilities to enforce the Fugitive Slave Act, it would pass muster.  However, that wouldn't stop the DEA from enforcing Federal laws ahainst marijuana on its own.  I don't think the confusion that would be caused would be worth it, at least not on this issue.