“It is very hard to tax illegal vices unless one is comfortable with contradiction,” Mr. MacCoun said. “How can you collect the taxes without documenting the behavior? And how can you document the behavior without making an arrest?”(H/T The Raw Story)In Washington State, Mr. Miloscia said he had also received criticism from an array of residents and business owners, who accused him of attacking the First Amendment and other sacred institutions with his pornography proposal.
“I had people call up saying their marriages would fall apart,” said Mr. Miloscia, who represents a suburban district between Tacoma and Seattle. “I didn’t know how passionate people are about this stuff.”
Regarding taxing pot:
Nowhere is that more true than California, where Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, a freshman from San Francisco, made a proposal intended to increase revenue, and, no doubt, appetite: legalizing and taxing marijuana, a major — if technically illegal — crop in the state. “We’re all jonesing now for money,” Mr. Ammiano said. “And there’s this enormous industry out there.”
After reading this a Hunter Thompson quote came to mind, "When the going gets tough, the weird turn pro." And things are sure to get a lot weirder in the next 12-24 months, worldwide. I think another HST quote went something like this, "Buy the ticket, take the ride." In a way I guess we bought the notion that unregulated financial markets and a global economy were the way to go. Now, we're taking the ride. Down, down, down.
