Getting greedy seem to be the norm in this country.

It seems that every time I hear a story about someone that had a good thing the story ends with "Then they started getting greedy..." and then a story of success turns into one of epic failure.

It's true in the criminal world and it seems to be true in government.

I'm not going to get into details but I know the brother of a guy that had a pretty good thing going with being able to sell some leftovers from jobs. His boss was letting a couple of the guys sell unused materiel from jobs and over time the two guys were making a pretty good chunk of change on the side.

This would have gone on for years as things likely would have panned out.

But then they started getting greedy and started ordering more than they needed to do the job and they got caught. The boss not only fired the pair of them but he filed charges against them and they were convicted of theft.

I think the same thing is happening in Colorado after they legalized the sale and use of cannibis.

One of the things that convinced the Colorado government to legalize cannabis is that it would likely take a bite out of illicit marijuana sales.

Most likely it would have but then they started getting greedy and slapped a 25% tax on the stuff.

So you now have a $200 bag of legal pot and after the tax is added on it's now $250 and that's before sales tax.

The sales tax in Colorado runs between 2.9 and 10.4% depending on locale.For sake of argument let's call it 5%.

Your $200 bag of pot is now $260 and that leaves a lot of room for illicit sellers to undercut the legal sellers. When you consider that dealers will deliver to regular customers it means that not only does a user get their pot tax free they also get it delivered to theri door.

Colorado might have gotten away with charging a 1-5% tax but they got greedy and seem to be losing a lot in tax revenue as a result.

Same seems to hold true in New York with cigarettes. They want over $10/pack.

Enter the cigarette smuggler and he's likely making a killing and every smoker just loves him. I'd bet that a pretty good sized chunk of the NYPD buys their smokes from smugglers.

Moonshiners have stayed in business simply because they don't pay taxes on their illicit product. 

Incidentally people that are not in the know think that moonshine tastes something like gasoline. I suppose some is pretty rotgut stuff. Still, several yars ago at deer camp one of the guys showed up with a jar and passed it around. 

It was a lot smoother than a lot of legally distilled liquor on sale in stores. It was some damned fine hootch.

I'd be soley tempted to buy a jar or two but it isn't worth the risk this far down the line. Besides, I don't know the shiner.

The reason moonshiners are in business today is simply because Uncle Sam got greedy and slapped too high of a tax on liquor.

Or to paraphrase what I have said before, "Then Uncle Sam started getting greedy..."



To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY