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Conservatives Fight Marijuana Taxation 
Posted by CN Staff on September 12, 2013 at 11:59:52 PT
 By Alex Rogers
Source: Time
Washington, D.C. -- In front of the U.S. Capitol Thursday, two congressmen discussed H.R. 2240, the Small Business Tax Equity Act, a little known bill introduced in June by Oregon Democrat Earl Blumenauer to allow deductions and credits relating to expenditures for marijuana sales conducted in compliance with state law.The bill, according to GovTrack.Us, has a 0% chance of being enacted and has a tiny chance of even getting out of the House Ways and Means committee. The main reason it has reached national attention is Grover Norquist, the President of Americans for Tax Reform, who has corralled 219 Representatives and 39 Senators to pledge to oppose any and all tax increases. He has taken up the no-tax-penalty-for-pot cause. Norquist—who has “No, absolutely not” ever smoked the stuff—believes that federal encroachment on the nascent field of state regulation of marijuana is a deeply serious topic, irrespective of the drug’s effects.
“There’s always a slight giggle factor on the issue dealing with marijuana,” said Norquist. “That said, this is tax policy, this is real stuff. This is important. This is everything from jobs to whether the federal government comes in and writes rules that upsets the apple cart in many, many different states.”The fact that taxing marijuana has become an issue of debate is a sign of the success of cannabis advocates. In August, the Administration said it would not challenge laws legalizing marijuana in Colorado and Washington, so long as the they implement “strong and effective regulatory and enforcement systems to control the cultivation, distribution, sale, and possession of marijuana,” according to a Justice Dept. memo. Marijuana is still, however, illegal under U.S. federal law.Norquist, who says the “double taxation” of marijuana dispensaries received his attention a couple of months ago, says the legal issue should be decided state by state, but as a tax issue there should be no doubt: legal cannabis dispensaries should be able to claim the expense deductions that any other legal business can claim. ” In Colorado and some of these other states, marijuana dispensaries are just legal businesses. They should be treated that way. But federal law makes that difficult to impossible,” says Norquist. “We’ve got to take the IRS out of this issue.”The press briefing, sponsored by National Cannabis Industry Association, also featured Blumenauer and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican. Blumenauer believes that this issue could be a stepping stone for a greater goal: comprehensive tax reform. ”I think comprehensive tax reform is not something that is beyond our reach, but it is a heavy lift,” said Blumenauer. “It would be nice to do a little momentum building, and have people work together on things that are common sense and have bipartisan support. And this is a classic example.”While Blumenauer believes this is a “simple fix,” he admits that it could be awhile before a business can claim a tax deduction in its sale of marijuana. “What we’re doing first is building the understanding of this issue and its support,” says Blumenauer. “But I think that this is a perfect item that can be dropped into any tax vehicle going forward.”Source: Time Magazine (US)Author: Alex RogersPublished: September 12, 2013Copyright: 2013 Time Inc.Contact: letters time.comWebsite: http://www.time.com/time/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/TAa31tlxCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml 
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Comment #2 posted by mexweed on September 12, 2013 at 15:38:31 PT:
anti-tax, yes, anti-paperwork, PRO-REFORESTATION
No problem for me if Grover wants to help, "Forgive---> Convert---> Redeploy."But NOT stopping with just negative on tax, but positive on subsidies!!! Near-future cannabis industries-- destined to serve public good, prevent climate damage, eliminate $drug addiction, stimulate self-education and practical handcrafts in UISA and everywhere-- deserve initial support.Future First Round of cannabis-fostered good jobs: "Bushwater". 1. Literally put bushes into the ravines, gullies, creekbeds, wadI's etc. to retard water runoff feeding local evaqporation and rainfall instead of drought. Under "bushes" include downed wood, deadwood branches and stems (may be chipped or shredded), weedstalks (bundled). etc. hauled to the gully and a mound of biomass is built up.2. Seed with hemp. The roots will grab hold of soaky mass and keep it in place. Couple of years of hemp crops will leave rich Litter ---> Topsoil for young trees (CANNABIS PRECURSOR CROP FOR FOREST).3. Seed with fast growing invasive ailanthus, eucalyptus, cottonwood, WLLW oops sorry willow, depending on your temperatures.4. In a decade or two, when the "weed trees" have done their good droughtproofing for the region, introduce the beloved noble hardwoods and pines everyone wants their kids to live amongst.Why the name "Bushwater"? Well, in Summer 2001 President George W. Bush appeared in an AP wirephoto, hatchet in hand, with caption, "Bush takes a whack at forest fires." In 2007 Bush reminded citizens to remove "kindling" from our forest areas. Let's have Obama make George czar over the US program which will employ millions of teenagers, volunteers, ex-offenders, rehab, political refugees (Syria), economic refugees (Spain), disaster and economic
(Haiti) etc. Hemigration: in October or so a huge brigade will sail for participating nations Australia, Brazil, Chile etc. and return in April.1. There are trillions of dead sticks to pick up or clip down in America to prevent billion dollar fires and save the taxpayer money! Grover, please note!2. There are millions of miles of dry creekbed which need to be given 3, 6, 9 feet of biobedding (SOW = Save Our Water)!3. Build millions of miles of 4-foot-wide forest roads (lines of plywood-paved pallets hauled out from town and nailed down, so 36"-wheelbase forklifttrucks can deliver supplies to work site and logs, poles, other forest products from the worksite) 4. Interface between this pallet-plywood-parkway system and standard truck/trailer roads usually occurs where the regular road passes over a gully, ravine or creekbed ("Camp Zero, with trailer parking, trailer-loading dock, human amenities for working families, on-line access and so forth.
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Comment #1 posted by Swazi-X on September 12, 2013 at 14:07:05 PT
Go Grover!
For once this line of reasoning makes sense - there should be no special "cannabis tax" at all. Just tax it at state retail rates and be done with it - no punitive special "demon tax" on the plant no matter what nonsense the prohibitionist profiteers in government and the private sector say.These rightfully fearful prohibitionist industries will support anything that will handicap cannabis' acceptance into normal life - namely keeping the prices at current, prohibition levels via excess taxation - because any impediment to cannabis normalization buys them time and advantage in the marketplace.Not generally a fan of Norquist - he was deeply involved in the same scams we put other lobbyists in prison for not long ago, but he somehow managed to duck responsibility and stay free. That said, if he is who needs to be involved to stop repressive taxation in this case - c'mon down! 
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