I know that marijuana is, as stated by Popular Mechanics magazine a “billion dollar crop.” I’ve done research and I saw somewhere that if marijuana were legalized and taxed, we could pay off our debt in a matter of years. My question is how long would this take at what tax?
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It would never pay it off because the government doesn’t want the debt gone. The debt serves several purposes and doesn’t consider what other nations owe US! That’s like saying you’re “poor because you owe $50 dollars” while ignoring the $30,000 in your account. Kind of silly.
Legalize any drugs to pay off the debt? Theoretically, without considering the other myriad aspects of reality you ignore in this post, would possibly end the debt.
So would legalized theft. Doesn’t make it a good idea. I mean, we could tax each theft 10% or more, get rid of the national debt in NO TIME!
War isn’t winning? Drugs still around?
That’s like arguing: “Battle against bacteria isn’t winning? Bacteria isn’t around? Then we should end the battle and let them roam free!”
What nonsense.
10 trillion dollars at a rate of 1 billion a year would take longer than the course of human civilization.
If it generated more than that, take 10 trillion and divide it by the amount the government gets for it.
About a thousand years. Seriously, how much do you think we would be willing to pay for this harmless substance when it can be grown anywhere?
I’m guessing it would take hundreds of years.
Cigarettes, which are far more popular than weed, brought in only about $34 Billion in taxes in 2007.
Even if we taxed the hell out of marijuana, far more then cigarettes, i can’t imagine it bringing in more then the $34 Billion per year. We owe something like 11 Trillion Dollars. That’s 325 years. And that also assumes that we instantly start balancing the budget from now on.
longer than 100 years
Currently, according to the IRS, we are at the point where our children and grand children, I am fourteen, will still be paying off the massive debt that the U.S. owes.
One other thing to consider is that Marijuana can not full be taxed because people can grow it in their backyard. For this reason, no one would pay taxes, would they?
In all, I do not think that it would do a substantial amount of good. One idea is that we stop outsourcing jobs, don’t let people into our country, and put a great tax on imports, yet not alot on exports.
It’s irratic, and there is much more to it, but I find that that may be the most effective way to do things…
First of all I don’t think anyone is ready to pay anymore in taxes. The way they raised the sin taxes, we will either quit or buy from somewhere else (thank God for the Internet). They should just stop spending. If they did put it on store shelves, I’m sure they would still make a ton of money from it. I could probably grow my own tobacco and food, but it’s a lot of work and I don’t have the space. The convenience factor is way too high, excuse the pun.
Legalizing it would create a lot of jobs here at home that people would be more than willing to do and they wouldn’t have to spend so much on welfare. Plus more people would be able to get jobs, without losing their minds trying to quit. This is how they could make the most in taxes, taxing the incomes of the people working in the new industry. This would also solve the cartel/gang problem drastically. Also people would not associate marijuana with other drugs such as cocaine and heroin, which do not compare at all to marijuana. The honesty will keep more people from ever trying those drugs. Let’s be honest, the controlled drug list probably confuses children after they try marijuana.
They should just except the fact that people are going to do it and they are throwing good people in jail, who are sane (would like to stay sane) and just in their use of the plant. It took them a couple hundred years to quit throwing people in jail or killing them for believing the world revolved around the sun. Maybe they think they are making more money by throwing people in jail and fining them? Just one more reason, for people to keep doing it…
Take a look at why I use it: http://www.benefitsofmarijuana.com/benefits.php
The billion dollar crop is hemp, not marijuana. Same species for now, but hemp has virtually no THC and mostly CBD, whereas marijuana has mostly THC and virtually no CBD. Hemp was replaced by the synthetic chemicals, oil, and all other modern “inventions”. So the billions of dollars made from the nonrenewables was literally stolen from the renewable hemp.
Marijuana legalization would most likely increase violence by drug lords since once it’s legalized and everyone could grow their own, the money would disappear. The tax would only apply to selling it, but who would be buying when you could grow it yourself?
We need to eliminate drug lords before legalizing marijuana, coca, and opium.
I really don’t think America can come out of debt now. There is no way we can come out of debt if we keep spending fortune on wars and efforts of world domination. Let us see what Obama can do to help our nation.
Thanks!