Drug Penalties: Tennessee Appeals Court Finds Drug Tax Unconstitutional
(See David Borden's blog post this morning on this topic.)
In a September 6 opinion, the Tennessee Court of Appeals ruled the state's tax on illegal drugs, widely known as the crack tax, is unconstitutional. The state cannot impose a tax on items it considers illegal, such as illicit drugs or moonshine, the court held.
widely-posted Tennessee drug tax stamp image
In the case before the court, Steven Waters of Knoxville was arrested in 2005 shortly after purchasing a kilogram of cocaine valued at $12,000 from an informant. A few days later, the Tennessee Department of Revenue sent Waters a tax assessment demanding more than $55,000. It also filed a tax lien against real property owned by Waters and seized $4,000 from his bank account.
Waters sued, charging the tax violated constitutional self incrimination, due process, and equal rights protections under both the state and the federal constitutions. A trial court found in Waters' favor, and now, the state Court of Appeals has agreed.
The state cannot impose an excise (or "privilege") tax on items it has criminalized, the court held: "Because it seeks to levy a tax on the privilege to engage in an activity that the Legislature has previously declared to be a crime, not a privilege, we must necessarily conclude that the Drug Tax is arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable, and therefore, invalid under the Constitution of this state," the opinion read.
The state of Tennessee has 60 days to file an appeal to the state Supreme Court. The Department of Revenue says it plans to appeal and will continue collecting the tax in the meantime.
More than 20 other states have similar illegal drug tax laws.
digg
redditTHAT is what stopthedrugwar.org, et al. is all about!
Comment posted by Anonymous on Sun, 09/16/2007 - 7:47pmoh and there was/is a similar issue in alabama involving sale of adult toys; e.g., vibrators, being illegal ... w/ u.s. supreme court stating something like what goes on in a person's house and is private is NONE OF ANYONE'S BEESWAX!! is the SAME deal when we smoke a joint (or whatever) in our private spaces ...
deb
in alabama
I smoke pot and I like it alot!
Comment posted by Anonymous on Mon, 09/17/2007 - 10:53pmOne thing the government fails to realize is that the vast majority of drug users are purely recreational users and not addicts. They should re-legalize everything, including opiates, and tax it all like they do alcohol. This won't likely increase overall use, just allow those of us who already do it to do it legally.
If you think this is bad...
Comment posted by Anonymous on Thu, 06/19/2008 - 12:02amWe got stopped going into Bonnaroo and they confiscated a bunch of pot brownies and some cooking oil which contained a small amount of ganja. The cops let us go with a citation, then we had to see the revenue guy. He charged us the $3.50 tax per gram that this law calls for. Each brownie weighs between 60-70 grams! In the end we owe well over half a million dollars and had to make a payment of $7000 so he would not seize our vehicle!
I honestly don't have a huge problem with this tax law in general. It makes sense as a revenue generator, as long as it is applied fairly. However we were charged a tax of over 10000x the street value of these brownies and oil!
The law is still up for review in the State Supreme Court. Hopefully our case will get thrown out!
ya.........
Comment posted by Anonymous on Mon, 08/25/2008 - 8:08amhi
i am kevin edward i think it is right.i would like to know more about it.
TennesseeDrugAddiction
illegal drug policy
Comment posted by Anonymous on Fri, 09/14/2007 - 3:21pm1) End over 80% of muggings, theft, house break-ins, burglaries
2) Stop the major source of cash flow for organized crime
3) Stop the major source of corruptioninthe police force
4) Free up tens of billions of dollars and tens of thousands of police time for other crimes like domestic violence, rape, robbery....
5) End the hypocrisy of legalizing all the social problems of alcohol and tobacco but criminalize other drug choices
6) End the hyopcrisy of sympathy for alcoholics but criminalizing opiate addicts
The porblem is not drug use but drug abuse. Treat drug abuse as ahealthissue not a crime
SOLUTION: re-legalize via controled and regulated access all illegal drugs for adult consumption