Drug dealers pay new 'crack tax'

[sa_butta]

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1698302.html?menu=

A US state's tax on drug dealers has brought in nearly $2 million in its first year.
Tennessee's so-called 'Crack Tax' came into effect last January, reports the Sun-Sentinel.

Under the scheme, drug dealers are expected to pay taxes on illegal drugs and alcohol.

They pay confidentially, and when they do, they get a stamp.

If they're caught without the stamp, they'll be prosecuted for tax evasion, as well as drug dealing.

All money made from the stamps goes to fighting drugs.

[midgetonadonkey]

Texas has been doing that for a while now. When I was in rehab, my counselor had over $1 million in debt because of the tax stamp. Even after he spent 8 years in prison, he still had to pay that tax back.

[Notorious H.O.P.]

Don't know about tax stamps but I recently heard that there are a good number of smarter criminals that pay taxes on their illegal goods. Apparently they'll buy a money order equivalent to their "tax" and send it to the IRS without a name on it. The government cashes it and the criminal holds onto the money order stub. If the criminal is caught, they can avoid the associated tax evasion charges by producing their stub as proof of tax payment. Happens fairly often from what I'm told.