They better legalize pot fast, because our leaders are running out of other vices to tax!
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They better legalize pot fast, because our leaders are running out of other vices to tax!
Here's a prediction: Pennsylvania and Philadelphia officials are going to race ahead of the rest of the nation in legalizing -- and regulating -- marijuana. Why? Because they're running out of other vices to tax middle-class people with.
First, about the Mary Jane Express -- don't you miss that train at the station:
State and federal government agencies spend billions of taxpayer dollars each year to combat the sale and consumption of marijuana, and have arrested millions in an ongoing "war on drugs" that has lasted more than four decades.
But if how Americans view pot is any indication, that war may not last another 40 years.
A majority of Americans now support marijuana legalization, according to a poll released on Thursday by the Pew Center for the People & the Press.
Wow -- has anyone turned on Gov. Corbett or Mayor Nutter to this new information? Because they've been tripping over each other to find all-American vices they can tax in order to keep levies on their millionaire backers and large corporations at record lows. After slashing Pennsylvania's safety net, Corbett wants to put Keno -- the electronic lottery version of crack cocaine -- in bars to raise a few extra dollars for senior citizens, and he wants to see more booze in private liquor stores to recoup some of the money that he slashed for your kids' school. And now Nutter and City Council are apparently hoping to save the foundering public schools here in Philadelphia by raising more tax dollars every time you knock one back at the corner tavern:
Mayor Nutter and City Council are rarely on the same page these days, but a proposal to increase the “liquor by the drink” tax to help fund the School District’s $60 million request seems to be gaining traction on both sides.
City Council President Darrell Clarke has mentioned the possibility of raising the tax, which now adds 10 percent to your bar bill, in recent budget hearings. Nutter indicated Thursday that it's a proposal his administration is considering.
Or, or....we could make Philadelphia's largest corporation, Comcast, which throws us a few job breadcrumbs, to actually pay its fair share back to the city? In fact, if we really wanted to go crazy, we could close Pennsylvania's egregious corporate tax loopholes, which allow $4.4 billion a year to slip from our grasp while schools and basic services deteriorate. Or we could just hit on everyday working people every time they go to meet their friends at the tavern, until we make them so poor that buying wads of Corbett's privatized lottery tickets is their only possible way out.
I'd go with the corporations. But then I'm probably smoking something.
Just a matter of time...— The Fundamentals of the Economy are Fine- How much is Philly owed in back property taxes, which might help too?
However, if more people smoke pot, eat more chips and fatty foods. More people will be overweight and have cardiovascular issues. Also, since you are no longer living a clean and healthy life style, you will fail drug test after drug test and not be able to get a job working in government or any corporation. Why take drugs? Not sure, it is not healthy, good for your career, nor your dignity. But I guess what you liberals want not to live, not to work and not to be seen as honorable or respectable.— Fisher - Fishers comments are typically out of touch with reality. I grew up in the late 70's and know many educated, hardworking doctors, attorneys and other professionals that use marijuana recreationally. They are certainly respectable "job creators" and not lazy potheads. — chasing history
- Dude, ya think my food stamps would be able to buy my weed? — enochpowell
- "which allow $4.4 billion a year to slip from our grasp."
Typical liberal thinking. For them it's "our money" that somehow corporations are stealing from us. It's difficult for me to understand that kind of thinking, but I don't covet other people's money, so I guess I never will.— jmc - Of course not, you just want the goodies it pays for, like this blog for instance. Or dead terrorists. Clean water and food (I must assume you have a human body). Republican candidates (you can't bankroll them on your own, right?). A well-financed NRA. Yeah, just forget it's other people's money that makes up your world. You don't want to have to covet it.
- rise and shine to insult others. even if your comments make no sense.
- Here's a prediction. If Pa was lagging behind other states in the Peter Toshing of ganja, Bunch would be the first to call us Pennsyltucky and bash the state..— tudorcity
- Will, what are the chances of a Whiskey Rebellion in Philly? Maybe an Occupy Chickie's and Pete's movement? By the way, state lottery keno in bars and restaurants is now passe in WV, where its been legal for decades. We now have neighborhood mini-casinos that are as common as your local Wawas. (They just can't advertise themselves as such, or they might offend somebody's emotions, eh 2nd?).
- Another non-issue by slick Willie and the press to avoid the debactle of Obama. 88,000 jobs. What a joke. Obviously, the liberal loons here eat it up while back in the real world things are falling apart.— CD75
- Indeed. That's way too many jobs added. Obama isn't even any good at austerity. We need more pain!
- Yeah CD75, way to get so very worked up. The outrage is palpable. Here's what real debacle looks like: http://tinyurl.com/d25eykx. That's a debacle. Actual job gains, no matter how badly they miss expectations, is something to build on. But this is the fiscal cliff austerity at work. This is a small taste of what the Ryan plan spending cuts would have resulted in (mind you the called for cuts were much larger). But don't let me interrupt. I'm sure you're working diligently on an economic proposal that will bring endless prosperity and hand waving.— Murrayman
- Look at that line on the graph for Ireland. Wow. Austerity at work. Thankfully the bank bond holders were made whole. Never underestimate the ability to foist the cost onto the backs of the people. Ireland's austerity program is true catastrophe.— Murrayman
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