An Illinois politician is suggesting legazlizing fireworks in Illinois and taxing them as a means of making up some of Illinois’ budget shortfall. Currently you can sort-of buy sort-of fireworks in Illinois, but only if you fill out pages of paperwork and yada yada yada. Of course, fireworks stands pop up every summer and local law enforcement generally looks the other way. But that’s neither here nor there.
I’m curious if any Dopers from any other states can speak to the financial benefits of legalizing a formerly illegal commodity. Gambling immediately comes to mind, but of course we could debate the effect of gambling on a state’s bottom line for hours.
So can anyone name a commodity that was made legal in their state (say, fireworks, certain weapons, etc.) and the financial after-effects? I imagine that the amount generated in tax revenue from fireworks sales in Illinois couldn’t amount to more than a few million dollars, tops.
I can see this thread easily turning into a Great Debate about legalization of marijuana, so let’s try at the outset to keep that topic out of this thread. Also, histrionic platitudes about “leaving fireworks displays to the professionals” aren’t really germane to the topic at hand.
…well… taxing *anything * is good, in that it generates money for the government to waste so they can come and bug us for some more, later on.
Taxation, however, can be a political football. Nobody wants to pay more taxes. And when the item to be taxed is controversial – i.e., fireworks, herbs/spices, liquor, tobacco, and so on – it becomes even more so.
When the item in question is illegal, and one proposes legalizing it so that taxes may be collected… well… one can be considered to be throwing dice with the electorate. What if they LIKE having the stuff illegal? Some people really do believe that laws protect them from themselves, you know, and others like the idea of laws that keep other people from doing things one disapproves of.
Hence, calling for legalization of ANYTHING can be a gamble, politically speaking.
[Smokey and the Bandit] The God damn German’s ain’t go nothin’ to do with it! [/Sheriff B.T.Justice]
Sorry I could not resist.
If the idea of making something legal for the benefit of creating income and if the total sales is in millions, it does not seem like it will be a tremendous benefit for the entire state. What is the tax rate? At 5%, just the sales tax, per every million in sales, would not even cover the cost on one more state employee. Of course the establishment of new businesses would create revenue in more areas than just the sales taxes collected on the sale of the item. The business will need property and employees - even more taxes there.
Of course fireworks should be legal just because they are cool and necessary in order to live life in happiness.
In the interest of keeping it GQ, perhaps we could state the question about marijuana like this: Are there any countries, anywhere in the world in which marijuana was illegal, then became legal. If so, did they levy a tax on it, and if so, what were the effects of the tax?