Cannabis Company Harborside Goes Public – Will Appeal Multi-million $ Tax Court Ruling
The fundamental tax problem of the state-legal cannabis industry is Code Section 280E which denies ordinary and necessary business deductions for taxpayers trafficking in controlled substances. That was added to the Code in 1982.
Because we have an income tax, not a gross receipts tax, deductions still had to be allowed for the cost of goods sold. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 expanded the costs that were included in the cost of goods sold(Code 263A). This was generally not a taxpayer-friendly provision since it had the effect of deferring deductions in inventory.
Having deductions running through the cost of sales was good for the “traffickers” though. It is better to get a deduction later rather than never. In 2015, the IRS Chief Counsel snatched even this half loaf off the table with CCA 201504011.
Wealth Tax – That Pesky Constitution Might Get In The Way
This might be an example of how the non-binary parties (I hate calling them “third” since there are so many of them) end up having influence. I first encountered the wealth tax in the Green Party Platform while preparing to interview Jill Stein in 2012. Doctor Stein thinks it is quite a good idea.
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Over and over again courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging one’s affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everybody does so, rich or poor; and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands: taxes are enforced exactions, not voluntary contributions. To demand more in the name of morals is mere cant.