A few years ago, I wrote to the News & Observer about our state’s illegal drug taxes. At the time, I had used the state’s budget shortfall as a way to expose readers to the hypocritical drug stance our state was taking.
On the one hand, we, as well as the federal government, punish those that use and deal in hard drugs. But on the other hand, we tax those very same substances. It’s as if we’re saying, “Now, you know you shouldn’t be using drugs, but if you do, you gotta let me get a piece of that pie.”
Curious to know if NC was the only state participating in this hypocrisy, I found that 21 states tax illegal drugs too! Where did this policy come from? Isn’t this policy dangerously close to being unconstitutional?
Read the report, Taxing Illegal Drugs: How States Dabble in Drugs and Why They Shouldn’t, if you’re at all interested.
