► entertainment
► events
► issues
► music
► art
hilltopics
the university
daily kansan
wednesday ▲
8.26.98 ▲
ten.a
A little-known Kansas law requires drug dealers to anonymously purchase tax stamps before selling their wares. Getting caught without one means dealers face charges and payment of back taxes, putting them in ...
Double jeopardy
story by julie oberle @ special to
TAXING
A tax on illegal drugs?
It's true. Here's the legal breakdown:
$3.50 per gram of
processed
marijuana
40 cents per wet marijuana plant
90 cents per gram of dry marijuana
Stock mix features
■ $200 per gram of
controlled
substances sold by
dosage, or $2,000
per 50 units.
Each stamp is valid for three months.
I felt like a paranoid drug dealer.
Suspicious and nervous, I looked around furtively for surveillance cameras.
A crowded room of patrons awaiting tax consultation greeted me on the third floor of the Robert B. Docking State Office Building in the Kansas Department of Revenue in Topeka. I approached the woman behind the desk and the words "DRUUUUG TAAAAX STAAAAMP" flowed from my mouth in slow motion.
"Take a seat in booth No. 3," she said.
Take a seat in booth No. 3, she said.
I scanned the room again for cameras and sat down. I noticed the woman behind the desk had picked up the telephone, turned her back to the other people waiting and, with her hand covering her mouth, whispered into the receiver. "You know about the drug tax stamp? I have a lady in booth No. 3."
have a variety of drug dealers to affix tax stamps to all marijuana, domestic marijuana plants or controlled substances. The stamp is valid for three months, and any person may purchase the stamp without — the state promises — disclosing their identity.
Any individual who manufactures, produces, ships, transports or possesses more than 28 grams of marijuana, one gram of cocaine, or 10 or more dosage units of LSD, is classified as a drug dealer and is liable for the payment of drug taxes.
After 10 minutes waiting in both No. 3, Mavis Cockrelli, accounting specialist, introduced herself to me, shook my hand and pulled out a remittance voucher.
Her eyes were glued to the voucher. She filled in the date and put N/A in the boxes allotted for social security number, name and address. She then hastily and incorrectly printed "Marrijana Drug Stamp."
She glanced at me and asked, "How much did you want?"
Cockrell declined to give me any information about who had bought stamps in the past or how many people came in weekly to buy the
At that point, I had to let Cockrell in on my real purpose. I explained I was not only there to purchase a drug tax stamp but also to verify that the process was anonymous and to make sense of the philosophy behind taxing illegal substances.
Kansas Department of Revenue, said $400 worth of stamps were sold in 1997.
Cockrell assured me that there was no threat to anyone who purchased a drug tax stamp and explained that even if a law-enforcement officer questioned her about people who had bought the stamps, it would be against the law for her to provide them with information.
Dean Reynoldson, Alcoholic Beverage Control manager of enforcement, said the law allowed Kansas to tax a portion of the underground economy. He stressed that purchasing a drug tax stamp did not relieve drug dealers of legal liability. Having the drug tax stamp only prevents them from being charged with an additional crime, a felony for not paying proper taxes.
"If it's totally confidential," she said. "If someone told me their name, I would say, 'please don't tell me your name."
"The fact that a certain type of business, like drug dealing, is illegal, shouldn't exempt it from taxation," Reynoldson said.
Key Indices Tax rates for drugs include: $3.50 per gram of processed marijuana; 40 cents per gram of wet marijuana plants; 90 cents per gram of dry marijuana plants; $200 per gram of controlled substances sold by dosage or $2,000 per 50 units.
The Department of Revenue accepts payments of cash, certified check and money orders for the tax stamps. Stamps range in denominations from $10 to $5,000, but for drug dealers, there is a $100 minimum.
Jean Phillips, associate clinician of the University of Kansas School of Law, said there was something warped about taxing illegal conduct so that the government makes money.
"There's nothing that says you can't tax illegal conduct." Phillips said. "You can tax whatever you want, as long as you go through the proper procedure."
Phillips said the tax-stamp requirements appeared to be just another form of punishment for drug dealers.
However, Kansas law states it is not considered punishment, Phillips said.
"It's just another form of collecting revenue,just like taxing alcohol,"Phillips said.
Jason Holsman, Overland Park senior, agreed. He thought few people actually knew about the law.
"As with most laws, citizens are unaware of its existence," Holsman said. "From a political standpoint, this tax stamp serves as a futile attempt to raise revenue from an illegal substance, while administering a certain level of fear for participation in the trade."
caught. Drug dealers caught without the stamp must pay tax on the amount of drugs found in their possession, plus a 100 percent penalty.
Damon Thomas, evidence officer for the Lawrence Police Department, said he had seen only one out of 1,000 cases in which a drug dealer had the drug tax stamp.
"I've only seen it on one package of marijuanas, and it was expired so it was of no value," he said. "Dealers are not buying it because they don't think they will be caught."
In 1997, $1.3 million was collected from drug dealers for not having the stamp, said Walker, Department of Revenue. To collect the fines, the department seized the dealer's possessions.
"We've confiscated everything from coins to jewelry to cars and equipment," Walker said. "We store the property and, once the appeals are done and final, we sell it at public auctions."
Or the money collected from Kansas dealers, 75 percent is returned to law enforcement agencies
across the state, Walker said. These funds help continue the fight against drugs through the purchase of drug dogs, undercover vehicles, body armor, guns and video cameras. The additional 25 percent goes back into the state's general fund.
Kansas statute 79-5204, approved in July 1987, requires drug dealers to attach tax stamps to all marijuana, domestic marijuana plants or controlled substances. The stamp is to be placed on drug containers.
1