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Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Does Marijuana Use Lead to Higher Taxes?

From the Sacramento Bee:

"California will run out of cash by early March if the state does not take swift action to find $3.3 billion through payment delays and borrowing, according to a letter state Controller John Chiang sent to state lawmakers today.

The announcement is surprising since lawmakers previously believed the state had enough cash to last through the fiscal year that ends in June."

Of course we all know the reason California finds itself in these dire conditions is because it doesn't tax it's population enough. It appears increasingly likely that Governor Jerry Brown will have competition in November when he asks California voters to raise taxes as a way to stabilize the state's perpetually out-of-balance budget. There are currently three tax increasing schemes competing for a spot on the state ballot referendum.

Then there is the Oklahoma model.

Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin seeks “most significant tax cut in state history

In her prepared text, the state’s chief executive asked lawmakers to join her in “an ambitious and exciting undertaking” intended to reform “the tax code, and chart a course towards the gradual elimination of the income tax.”

“It would, beginning on January 1, 2013, replace our current system, which taxes the first penny that every Oklahoman makes. It reduces the seven brackets we currently have to 3 lower and flatter rates:

“Those couples making $0 to $30,000 a year will now pay nothing in state taxes. For those making $30,000 to $70,000 a year, the tax rate will be 2.5 percent.

“And for families making over $70,000 a year, the rate will be 3.5 percent, as opposed to the 5.25 percent rate they are currently paying.

“Under these new rates, a middle class couple making $40,000 a year, for example, will pay 37 percent less in taxes in 2013, with additional cuts in future years.

"We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee;
We don't take our trips on LSD....

We don't let our hair grow long and shaggy,
Like the hippies out in San Francisco do.

Is marijuana a gateway drug leading to higher takes?

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