(Wicked Local) PROPERTY TAXES AND POT – The Revenue Committee is considering legislation prohibiting cities and towns from changing the assessment or increasing the current taxes on a residential property until the property is sold (H 3966). Another measure before the committee would impose a new $5 per package tax on rolling papers used to roll tobacco and marijuana (H 3949). Supporters say that it is time to tax law-breaking citizens who use these rolling papers to primarily roll marijuana. Some opponents say that the proposed $5 per pack tax is a ridiculous one which exceeds the cost of the rolling paper itself. Others argue that many smokers now buy the papers to roll their own regular cigarettes because of the increased tax on packaged cigarettes.
Geez, you guys are so close! How about you shorten that sentence to “it is time to tax citizens who use marijuana“? By taxing rolling papers, you’re tacitly admitting that prohibition has not stopped anyone from “rolling marijuana” and also declaring that the state should garner some revenue from marijuana use. You’re also guaranteeing big business to folks who’ll drive out of state to pick up a case of Bambus to sell along with the weed and to internet sellers who’ll ship it to Massachusetts tax free.
Isn’t it maddening to watch the contortions prohibitionists will perform to avoid the obvious?
good thing i use wet cannabis leaves to roll my smokes.
how stupid are these lawmakers???? do they think that rolling a joint is the only way we smoke cannabis????? go ahead, tax the papers….. you wont be affecting cannabis users much…. just forcing them to use healthier alternatives, like pipes, bongs, and vaporizers….. their efforts are futile…. are they going to tax apples because you can make a pipe out of it? how about taxing toilet paper and paper towels because u can make pipes out of the rolls? if they think this will curb smoking they are dead wrong…. it will only hurt the sales and hurt those who are rolling tobacco to try and save money..
I wonder if this is going to up Bible sales?
High East, I see your point, but don’t worry, cannabis will be legalized within a decade in the US; many believe.
I cannot believe they would go so far as to tax rolling papers, and still remain ignorant of cannabis reform needs.
and watch online sales of papers SKYROCKET! Makes me want to open a online paper store now.. Thanks for the great idea moron, im gonna go make fleet cash now
maybe these people should start smoking cannabis so they may have a slight chance in hell of making sense to anyone.. This is just as retarded as the caning thing in georgia
I have switch to bongs and love it ever since but when ever im with ppl we have to smoke blunts. I dont know why but i like blunts when ever im socializing.
$5.00?
So paper will cost as much as a pack of nasty baccy?
I AM CONFUSE!
i prefer pipes anyway
Here in Mass were are teetering on a very narrow beam. We could fall on either side at this point, I think.
Question 2 passed but also made a mess. Prohibitionists are using it to actually try and make harsher penalties for marijuana than we had before.
Town after town, the police lobbies have basically thumbed their nose at the new law and amended it back to a criminal offence – without ever informing or allowing the citizens to vote on the matter.
What offers us hope is that, despite the de-crim/re-crim and the spattering of noise coming from the prohibitionists, nothing bad has happened. The sky didn’t fall. The roads didn’t become a pile up of wrecked cars or run down children. Society didn’t become a wild party of immorality.
AND
Generally speaking, the Police haven’t been writing a lot of tickets or harassing a lot of citizens.
What worries me is new legislation being run through the house and senate. Smola and company are still calling for mandatory minimums for marijuana. Because question 2 allowed the police a loophole to make up new criminal rules for marijuana we could go back to filling jail cells and keeping rehab centers flush with money really quick.
We need a lot of help with the bills being rammed through by Smola right now. If we are truly abandoned by all the lawyers and lobbies that got us to this pivotal point then there is little hope for marijuana remaining decriminalized. Our letters and votes aren’t enough without the money and lawyers.
We’ll get a ridiculous medical law that only gives access to the terminally ill combined with harsh criminal penalties for everyone else.
Looks like I’ll be purchasing not only my alcohol an cigarettes, but my rolling papers in New Hampshire to if this passes.
Guess its time to get a vaporizer. They have already jacked the price of blunts and blunt wraps in GA.
This is just
if they think this tax hits marijuana smokers. Last fall I rolled a 1/4lb into joints for the ski season. I think I used 3 1/2-4 packs of Bambu glueless in the square pack. I think they are $2.50/pk, 1/2 of the proposed tax. This comes to about $15-$20 tax for 135 days.A pack a day tobacco smoker(20 papers/day)would be paying $135 tax for 135 days
I bet the tobacco lobbyists are against this one
Isn’t it
Back in the day (before the summer trip) I smoked tobacco. I rolled my own at a cost of approx. $34/month. The MN govt raised taxes and the cost increased to $96. This new tax would raise it to approx. $126/month. All this increase in a 6 month period.
I smoke pot in my spoon, or other paraphernalia, rarely joints.
stupid ass polititians