A 28 percent tax on marijuana? Thats the plan under the latest bill

[Sunlei]

Source: Globe

In a sweeping rewrite of the voter-passed marijuana legalization measure, House leaders will advance a bill Wednesday that would more than double the total tax on recreational pot and give municipal officials — instead of local voters — the power to ban cannabis shops and farms.

The legislation immediately faced blowback from advocates, who said “it insults voters,” and from elected officials, who said the bill would ensure that the illicit market would continue. But it drew praise from a key lobbyist for cities and towns, and the measure is far from the final step as legislators rewrite the law.

The House bill, scheduled for a Thursday vote, would raise the total recreational pot tax, now set at a maximum of 12 percent, to a mandatory 28 percent.

It would also consolidate oversight of the state’s medical and recreational marijuana programs in one agency, enshrine restrictions on pot-infused edibles in law, set sharp limits on marijuana advertising, and strip Treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg of her unilateral marijuana oversight authority. That’s according to an outline of the legislation and an interview with its author, Representative Mark J. Cusack, Democrat of Braintree.


Read more: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/06/13/house-bill-rewrites-voter-pot-law/X2kYCeudbE2LKgpcJHdCEM/story.html?p1=Article_Recommended_ReadMore_Pos7

[Sunlei]

2. wow, look this is one of those new ads all over the internet selling rx drugs.

[C Moon]

3. What was said?

I've noticed an onslaught of new DU'rs (not that I've been here that long) posting divisive things since the Comey hearing.

[Rhiannon12866]

4. It was Spam...

[gtar100]

5. Greed.

Just greed.

[bucolic_frolic]

6. Taxachusetts Lives

[nil desperandum]

13. well

here in the Baystate we just found out that Connecticut had jumped ahead of us in the level of tax burden their citizens have to bear and we just can't have that....so we try and find new and creative ways to increase the tax burden to our citizens...

[LanternWaste]

18. You remain consistent in the measure of relevant contributions to any given premise.

You remain consistent in the measure of relevant contributions to any given premise.

I imagine a creative rationalize will be advertised shortly to reinforce that alleged relevance.

[Throck]

7. Grow your own.

Lots of people make their own wine, brew their own beer etc. A few even grow their own tobacco.

Be a rebel, it's the American way.

I'm not talking a whole farm, just enought for personal consumption. Right next to the hops and tomatoes in the garden.

[Cobalt Violet]

10. most apartment dwells cannot.

But at least there is medical and the black market.

[Throck]

17. Community gardens.

I grow basil, cilantro and oregano in deck pots. The alternate herbs.

[Doug the Dem]

8. The Republican Congress

Fucking Up The Lives of Non-Rich Americans Since January 2011

[nil desperandum]

14. Except

here in the Baystate this is our fellow Democrats sticking it up our asses and trying to ignore the ballot initiative that was passed. We are Democratic majority legislature with a Republican governor.

[melm00se]

9. oh the outrage

I remember the pleas here (and other places): legalize marijuana and tax it.

Now that's happening, folks are starting to sound like the low tax advocates from the other side of the aisle.

[Cobalt Violet]

11. well this wasn't what the will of the people was.

We voted for something else.

[nil desperandum]

15. I live here in the Baystate

and I voted for this ballot initiative and I believe I didn't read anything about a tax rate approaching 28% in the ballot initiative.

The ballot initiative allowed for another 5.75% on marijuana over the current 6.25% rate making a total rate of 12% tax for marijuana sales make it almost twice as profitable for the state as other taxable items.

Legalize and tax was in the ballot initiative, legalize and excessively tax was not, but Beacon Hill seldom listens to the people, which often makes me wonder why we don't look for Democrats who will listen.

[LanternWaste]

19. Sounds like a justification lacking any objective measure

"Legalize and tax was in the ballot initiative, legalize and excessively tax was not..."

Sounds like a justification lacking any objective measure from which to make a valid premise.

The 1965 three penny tax on milk was also considered excessive by the greedy and the biased.

[Sunlei]

16. whats the tax on alcohol & guns/ammo? IMO, those taxes should be much higher to help cover their

damages costs to society.

[Jughead]

12. Tax

As someone who lived in Mass for 40 years, now living just over the border in NH Mass will witness their residents driving to NH to save tax on another vice besides tobacco, alcohol, appliances and any electronic device.

[dalton99a]

20. Kick.