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January 28, 2008

Drug Tax - a reality in North Carolina

Okay... now I've heard it all.

MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press Writer - More than a half-dozen states have a tax on narcotics and other controlled substances. Theoretically, a drug dealer in North Carolina can go to the state revenue office and get a tax stamp for $50 per gram for cocaine over 7 grams (the first 6 grams are tax-free). A moonshiner could get a stamp for $1.28 per gallon of mash.

Then the dealer or the moonshiner can walk away — the law prohibits snitching on anyone who buys the stamps — with proof he paid his debt to the tax department.

The idea is that a peddler, even one who sells illegal substances, should pay taxes. But in reality the revenue is only collected after arrests, when dealers are slapped with a tax bill.

"The only folks we have buying those stamps are stamp collectors," said Kim Brooks, spokeswoman for the North Carolina Department of Revenue.

Posted by Kevin at January 28, 2008 02:46 PM