The war on Drugs: Taxing Marijuana - Rob Kampia, MPP

[RUDY2295]

this is America, why the hell are the Feds in my business of my harmless plant. Let freedom ring.

[PrivateSnowballTFC]

So long as the tax is treated like a sales tax (eg; 25 cents a gram), I wouldn't mind at all. With all due honesty, thought, all taxes need to be abolished.

[boredmonkey29]

"In August 2009, seven MPP staffers quit over an alleged incident of sexual misconduct by Kampia involving a female subordinate after an office happy hour."

[RedPrincexDESx]

@boredmonkey29 Ad homimen arguments are fallacies, by the way.

[skeptictom818]

As a libertarian, I don't like taxes in general but I wouldn't be opposed to a modest tax on marijuana.

[Madfoot713]

If marijuan was taxed, what would that mean for growers logistically? In another way, if I make widgets at home, what rights do I have without paying the widget tax?

[Gerald90072]

Add one more choice "NO TAX ON MEDICINE...MARIJUANA IS MY MEDS" and I can sleep just fine Thank You. Just another lebertarian not thinking all things through.On social security and medicare I can't afford $20 a gram much less some tax that you just think will make the fat boys on the hill pass legalization faster if at all.Remember NO TAX ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA!

[Gerald90072]

Add one more choice "NO TAX ON MEDICINE...MARIJUANA IS MY MEDS"

[malloriernasrallah]

Dear LP, your white balance is off in this video, its a little unprofessional. Just sayin'

[0HippyHunter0]

He's dead wrong: I do not support prohibition but I do support not taxing weed. Does that mean I don't see the writing on the wall? No. I understand that it must be taxed: greedy-greedy government needs its bottle.

[MIB205]

EVERYTHING HE JUST SAID ONLY LOUDER FOR THOSE STUBBORN QUACKS.

[CornerTalker]

How about the prohibition on meth? Ecstasy? Heroin? The truth is that drug addicts (including alcoholics) don't make good parents, don't make good employees, and don't make good citizens.

[PickensCountyLP]

@CornerTalker The truth is, not every drug user is a drug addict. My father almost lost his job because he was staying up all night playing the video game Lineage II. Ban everything enjoyable, because someone somewhere is addicted to just about anything.

[sbearly]

It is not true that libertarians who are against taxing marijuana like beer are therefore 'for' prohibition of marijuana. That's like saying a person who didn't vote for McCain was 'for' Obama, since that could be said to have been the 'practical' outcome of people voting for a 3rd party candidate. If Mr. Kampia thinks compromise is the answer he should join the Republican Party and proudly stand up for a 'more gradual' selling off of our freedoms than what we will get with the Democratic Party.

[PickensCountyLP]

@sbearly You have a good point, he went a little to far in saying that. But as a marijuana user myself in the criminalized state of South Carolina, I would much rather pay a tax than go to jail. Its a lot easier to go from prohibition to taxed cannabis, and then to taxless cannabis, than it is to go from prohibition to marijuana with no taxes. We all stand for the same goal, but we need to take the most practical approach to getting there.

[TheLegalImmigrant05]

"Practical libertarian" LOL

One question: do you have a proposal to remove taxes on alcohol? Or are those OK?

Effing jokers.

[globalchaos1984]

@TheLegalImmigrant05 Hopefully once the public stigma goes away on marijuana we can remove taxes on all drugs, but the American public is sheep so this might take a while.

[shanewendi]

I don't think the government make much tax revenue this way because growing marijuana is as easy as growing tomatoes. Anyone who wanted to use it would simply grow it themselves.

[bldevor]

@shanewendi How many people grow their own tomatoes? Its about the same, right?

[Bosk]

I don't support a tax like beer because the tax on beer is too high. Any high tax for recreational drugs will simpley create a black market and we'll be stuck with most of the same problems we have now. The corruption stays, the violence stays and the high costs stays. Also, any tax on home grown has to be like tomatoes.

[Xenrus25]

@Bosk Then why isn't there a black market for alcohol?

[Bosk]

@Xenrus25 There is. Ever hear of boot leggers. Here there is higher taxes in this state compared to neighboring ones and the same for cigarettes. People cross borders and buy truck loads of both and either stock their shelves, resell out of the van/truck on the street or just to their friends and relatives. It's a huge business. The stores are just across the borders. In dry areas, they buy in the wet ones and ship across borders and sell in modern speak easies, road houses.

[B29Bomber]

@Bosk But you have to keep in mind, cash transactions that don't get taxed due to not caring (like paying a guy to mow your lawn) don't get taxed anyway. The only taxes would be on the suppliers, and that should be enough.

[Bosk]

@B29Bomber Don't fool yourself. There are about 30 different taxes on a loaf of bread. Each time it changes hands or for the cost of doing business. Like the huge tax on fuel to run the trucks, tractors, harvestors. The tax to the income for the trucker, farmer, transporter, broker, retailers. The tax on the product for the producer, the wholesaler, the retailer. Government gets paid no matter what while all the pieces of the industry are raped for more, each step in the process and afterwards.

[RoyalAnarchist]

Liking this video except for the unnecessary disclaimer

[shakaama]

the views expressed in this video are Mr. Kampias and do not strictly comply with all planks of the Libertarian Party platform.

I like how he says "and they should not be able to sleep well at night if they support that". This double talk and propaganda is exactly what Bush mastered. You're either with me or against me. By virtue of us BEING a third party means there is an alternative VIEW. That view is, decriminalize marijuana. Are you taxed on your vegetable garden? No.

[Cuecuemore]

@shakaama Totally agree. While I would settle for the legalization and subsequent taxation of marijuana, there is no reason to advocate for a compromise of one's values simply because the scope of public debate precludes a direct implementation of the ideal. We should (my opinion) advocate at all times for the tearing down of all impediments to our personal liberties, both on the legalization front (sovereignty over one's body) and on the taxation front (excise taxes are especially unjust).

[Bosk]

@Cuecuemore All taxes are unjust but the excise tax is the least. You can avoid it by not buying. Income tax you can't avoid, same with sales taxes. The worst is social security. You're taxed for a retirement program and they never put the money away but spend it. When it comes due, they cut the promised benefit since they'd have to curb the spending they could do when there was a surplus from the income from the pension plan. What needs to happen is the elmination of all philanthropic payouts.

[Cuecuemore]

@Bosk No, what I said holds. No tax can be avoided, it's ridiculous to presume that not purchasing or consuming a good makes you immune to government coercion towards those who do. You illustrated this point perfectly in your explanation of taxes on the loaf of bread. Of course all so-called "philanthropic" redistributions need to be eliminated, and then the government wouldn't need punitive taxes to "fund" them.

[Bosk]

@Cuecuemore I agree they couldn't be avoided. Like I said, all activity is already taxed. My point is that we need to guard against the abusive taxes we already pay for other "sin." The higher the taxes the more we increase boot legging, corruption and violence. Governments are not known for restraint when they can see a way to make more money to spend on ways to get more votes to keep or gain power. It's important we continue to argue that people are not slaves and as such, own their own body.

[The420Gunslinger]

Fuck that shit!!!

[KenMacMillan]

The federal government shouldn't be allowed to tax anything. They should get a flat percentage from each state anywhere from 0% to a predetermined maximum that they cannot change. The percentage should be voted on by the governors once a year.

[fmandwc2]

Sigh. You know not all libertarians are potheads, and for those of who are not and see it as a useless health risk not only to those who want to smoke it, which is a right they have, but to those who may be injured by other's lack of judgement due to being high, which is a right they don't have. Well, we don't like being associated like this. I'm a libertarian because I think the government should be minimized and a free society is the best society. You make it seem like we're all just potheads.

[waryeagle]

@fmandwc2 Exactly my position. I can count on one hand the number of uses of marijuana (many many years ago :-) ), but am a Libertarian and a TEA PARTY member because I support LIMITED government, INDIVIDUAL freedom, and FREE enterprise.