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one of the biggest problems with "taxing the hell" out of it, is that it has been illegal for so long and so many domestic and individual producers exist.
Does anyone grow their own tobacco, distill their own gin... yes i'm sure there are a few but most people just pay the high (and getting higher) tax and go about their business. With cannabis, the black market and DIY people are sooo adept that a 20 - 200% tax on something you can literally grow in a flower pot in your kitchen, will not be tolerated. The product itself is $1.00 an ounce. Production, packaging, distribution may raise that to 5 - 10... if you are going to tax the crap out of it... people will (continue) to grow it themselves at zero tax...
suddenly we are back to raiding homes and searching people and vehicles, not because the product is illegal, but because the tax hasn't been paid...
remember the feds who broke up moonshine stills were not called police, they were "revenuers", the liquor was legal, the fact that you didn't pay the tax made it illegal...
the base of this argument is the fight between freedom and government... the idea that we as free citizens should be able to do what we want... and that government sees that as a "problem"
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