6 ms·

If you tax it too much, I'd imagine that'd increase viability for a black market.

by ohitsdom 11y ago

pavel_lishin 11y ago
But a black market already exists.
- atom-morgan 11y ago
  And taxing it enough ensures those black markets don't disappear.
  - peter303 11y ago
    Regulations is a secondary taxation on legal dealers. Businesses have to pay high license fees, buy required security, keep records of EVERY PLANT (rfid tags). Its still profitable enough and safe enough from police harassment that there about 900 businesses.
    - atom-morgan 11y ago
      Yeah but black markets can still exist even if it is profitable for some. From what I've read some consumers are turning to black markets because it's cheaper than licensed stores [1]. [1] http://www.cnbcprime.com/marijuana/video/pot-after-hours-the-black-market/ http://www.cnbcprime.com/marijuana/video/pot-after-hours-the...
armenarmen 11y ago
Legally distributed drugs can and are still competitive with black market equivalents because legal vendors don't need to build stolen shipments, bribes, and gang war into their pricing.
pfooti 11y ago
I'd contend that black markets for tax evasion are qualitatively different from black markets for restricted goods. Consider the hefty tax on cigarettes. Sure, there's a cigarette black market, but it's not nearly the majority of the market. The (highly-opinionated) Tax Foundation did a study on this [0]. I'm not sure how reliable their numbers are (again: they're a foundation with an agenda), but if you read through their own spin, you can see that the big tax-based black market for cigarettes exists where there's a state-border disparity in tax rates, and even then, in 48 states the (estimated) black market took up less than half of the actual market. So: set taxes at whatever arbitrary level, but don't go too high. Also, consider setting national tax rates instead. So many of our problems derive from state-level control of stuff. Delaware corporations, state taxes, state laws. But I'm just a poor socialist / federalist. [0]: http://taxfoundation.org/article/cigarette-taxes-and-cigarette-smuggling-state http://taxfoundation.org/article/cigarette-taxes-and-cigaret...

If you tax it too much, I'd imagine that'd increase viability for a black market.

pavel_lishin 11y ago

But a black market already exists.

atom-morgan 11y ago
And taxing it enough ensures those black markets don't disappear.
- peter303 11y ago
  Regulations is a secondary taxation on legal dealers. Businesses have to pay high license fees, buy required security, keep records of EVERY PLANT (rfid tags). Its still profitable enough and safe enough from police harassment that there about 900 businesses.
  - atom-morgan 11y ago
    Yeah but black markets can still exist even if it is profitable for some. From what I've read some consumers are turning to black markets because it's cheaper than licensed stores [1]. [1] http://www.cnbcprime.com/marijuana/video/pot-after-hours-the-black-market/ http://www.cnbcprime.com/marijuana/video/pot-after-hours-the...

armenarmen 11y ago

Legally distributed drugs can and are still competitive with black market equivalents because legal vendors don't need to build stolen shipments, bribes, and gang war into their pricing.

pfooti 11y ago

I'd contend that black markets for tax evasion are qualitatively different from black markets for restricted goods. Consider the hefty tax on cigarettes. Sure, there's a cigarette black market, but it's not nearly the majority of the market. The (highly-opinionated) Tax Foundation did a study on this [0]. I'm not sure how reliable their numbers are (again: they're a foundation with an agenda), but if you read through their own spin, you can see that the big tax-based black market for cigarettes exists where there's a state-border disparity in tax rates, and even then, in 48 states the (estimated) black market took up less than half of the actual market. So: set taxes at whatever arbitrary level, but don't go too high. Also, consider setting national tax rates instead. So many of our problems derive from state-level control of stuff. Delaware corporations, state taxes, state laws. But I'm just a poor socialist / federalist. [0]: http://taxfoundation.org/article/cigarette-taxes-and-cigarette-smuggling-state http://taxfoundation.org/article/cigarette-taxes-and-cigaret...