5 ms·
You make 10K a year at a yard sell or selling pot, you owe the IRS money on that income. Just because you're less likely to get caught doesn't make it any less
by enjo 16y ago
You make 10K a year at a yard sell or selling pot, you owe the IRS money on that income. Just because you're less likely to get caught doesn't make it any less illegal.
Probably the closest "real world" example would be a flea market. Those large flea markets are the google, and the vendors are the independent folks putting ads on their sites. You sell $10k worth of goods at a flea market, you bet your ass that market will have the mechanisms in place to ensure that the IRS knows.
It's the same thing here.
- pinksoda 16y agoThere was a guy who got caught selling a lot of marijuana and didn't get in much trouble because he was paying taxes on it since day 1.
- icco 16y agoThat sounds hilarious, source?
- earl 16y agoI don't know about the not getting prosecuted bit, but drug taxes are real -- see eg http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1578857,00.html http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1578857,00.ht... http://marijuanastamps.com/state-stamps.htm http://marijuanastamps.com/state-stamps.htm Mostly, it's another way for pigs to steal from people. The idea being they can not only throw you in prison for dealing, but then use tax forfeiture laws to take everything you own.
- chopsueyar 16y agoYou can buy the collectible stamps on Ebay, too.
- icco 16y agoI was just looking at a similar article, I totally didn't know that, but I find it very interesting none-the-less.
- poet 16y agoArguing with facts, good. Using terminology for the police that an angsty teenager would use, bad. Moreover, the target of your animosity is misguided. Baring obvious ethical problems, I expect our law enforcement to enforce a law to the fullest extent. And as determined by the nation as a whole, Marijuana laws are not an obvious ethical problem. It's not a police officers prerogative to ignore the law, even when it will probably change in the next decade or two.
- Locke1689 16y agoJust to let you know, the way you worded your entire last paragraph reversed the tone of your post for me. What was informative before became ignorant and vacuous. Is it too much to ask that we keep away from the obvious logical fallacies on HN?
- meric 16y agoRead how a drug dealer got a tax deduction on his drug profits: http://books.google.com/books?id=IwwcB8Z-dYgC&pg=PA564&lpg=PA564&dq=australia+drug+tax+deduction&source=bl&ots=hNdgPhmQg9&sig=oHETq9p_KPVCWsGfcAxjy_14utw&hl=en&ei=gaPgTJ6aDoSEvgPJusXiDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false http://books.google.com/books?id=IwwcB8Z-dYgC&pg=PA564&#...
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- M1573RMU74710N 16y agoThat sounds like complete BS to me, unless you're talking about some time ago when marijuana and tax law were actually intertwined. The best you could hope for is some sympathy from the judge and/or not also getting slapped with tax evasion. Source?
- jlujan 16y agoSame goes to illegal immigrants. You do not need proof of citizenship to acquire a Tax ID or file a return. Those that are picked up and tried for illegal immigration are much more likely to not be deported/jailed if they have all of their taxes in order.
- barrkel 16y agoIt's not in the government's interest to collect tax on every transaction at every scale, because (a) it costs money to collect tax, and (b) economic activity is itself dampened by the transaction costs of keeping reliable accounting records in case of audits etc. That's not to say that 10,000 USD annual revenue is too low to be efficiently taxed; but there certainly are points at which it doesn't make sense.
- yeahsure 16y agoHi - (this is my first post). I'm not sure I agree with that. For example: Starting in 2011, any vendor or independent contractor payment that aggregates to more than $600 in a year gets a Form 1099-MISC. Do you think $50/month is worth all these paperwork? I sure don't.
- jharrison 16y agoI have to agree. The parent seems to be basing his comment on some form of logic or reason, neither of which seem to be prevalent in government dealings. Not recognizing the burden of 1099ing every entity that I do $600 of business with shows how disconnected the author of this particular bill is from small-businesses. The good news is, there ARE a few politicians who have seen the error in this bill and are attempting to do something about it. As a small-business owner myself, I can sympathize with the OP about having to get all businessy with his website. Being a small-business and "doing it right" can be a lot of work. You either do the work yourself, or you pay someone to do it. There are plenty of ways to go wrong if you're not on top of it.
- barrkel 16y agoI feel you completely missed my point. I don't think collecting on 600 USD a year is in the government's interest either.