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Tennessee sends agents to Bonnaroo to collect taxes on illegal drugs

fruitfly

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Among the hippies, rockers, free spirits and other Bonnaroo revelers partying in Manchester today will be a less likely festival figure: the taxman.

In an example of Tennessee's controversial drug tax in action, state revenue agents plan to collect fees on the illegal substances that some concertgoers bring for personal use and sale.

It's not an effort to curb drug use — for some, a Bonnaroo tradition that has sent tens to the hospital and a few to the morgue — but to make sure state and local authorities recoup drug enforcement costs.

For an ounce and a half of marijuana, just above the limit for a misdemeanor drug charge, the tax amounts to about $165, said Al Laney, director of tax enforcement for the state revenue department.

"Naturally, these people will be arrested and their assets will be confiscated," Laney said. "We assess a person while they're under arrest and seize any assets that law enforcement may want to turn over to us."

The state tax on felony amounts of drugs — rates vary by substance — started in January 2005 and has sparked an ongoing legal battle over the fairness and legality of the fee.

State agents have collected $5.4 million so far, with an untold portion of that coming from their efforts at Bonnaroo, the only event in the state manned by tax agents.


147 arrested in 2006

Between 30 and 40 concertgoers in 2005 faced taxes and fines, estimated Laney, who could not provide exact statistics.

Coffee County sheriff's officers, who help inspect vehicles entering the concert grounds, arrested 147 people in 2006, many on drug charges. More than 200 were cited, Sheriff Stephen Graves said.

One of those was retired law professor Thomas Schornhorst's 17-year-old grandson from Alabama, who was stopped on the way into the show with a bag of plant material.

Tax agents took the $200 the youth had on him, told him he owed more than $5,000 and threatened to confiscate the truck he rode in on, his grandfather says.

Lab tests later showed that the bag contained no illegal substances and the fines were dropped. Still, Schornhorst bristled at what he says is the state's disregard for due process.

"They're just taking money from people on the spot knowing that these people won't be able to find lawyers to challenge them," Schornhorst said.

A revenue department spokeswoman confirmed that agents have confiscated vehicles in the past when dealing with large amounts of drugs or people from out of state.


Stamps not popular

When not working Bonnaroo, agents team up with law enforcement on drug busts or assess taxes by mail on arrestees regardless of whether they're convicted.

State officials placed a tax lien on the home of Williamson County Sheriff Ricky Headley this year after he was arrested on charges of illegally buying thousands of prescription drugs.

Drug carriers can buy stamps anonymously from the revenue department in Nashville. Tax officials are prohibited by law from disclosing the information to law enforcement authorities.

The stamps, when affixed to bags of drugs, prove to the state that the possessor has already paid taxes.

The program hasn't been popular, Laney said.

So far no drugs confiscated by police have carried the markers, and some speculate that the small number of stamps sold in Tennessee have gone to collectors, he said.

Twenty-five states levy similar fees on illicit drugs, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. And in many cases — as in Tennessee — those fees have faced court challenges.

Knoxville lawyer Rick Holcomb defended a man convicted of federal drug conspiracy charges. Holcomb says the taxes are a thinly veiled punishment assessed on top of criminal punishment, breaking constitutional prohibitions against double jeopardy.

Assessing drug taxes at Bonnaroo is problematic, he said.

"There's a certain time allotted in which you should be able to stay the actual collection of the tax," Holcomb said. "Targeting Bonnaroo is particularly egregious because they're … taking your money right there."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Drug tax collectors to make the rounds
Concertgoers with illegal substances face fines, arrests
By Jessica Fender, The Tennessean
June 14, 2007


Link
 
It's totally lame. I was there in 2004, and i can't imagine this working at all.
I think it will only have an impact on the blatant drug dealing. Like the people walking around with a huge bag of mushrooms/pot/whatever screaming "I got you're mushies here".

There are 90,000ish people there, I doubt it will have much of an effect besides making bonaroo lame and ruining a few dozen people's weekend. :(
 
And could someone please tell me HOW these festival-goers are harming anyone? That's right, they aren't.

So that means...the government is doing this for MONEY?

......no......
 
What will it take before the American people say enough? I'm speechless.

More and more states are going to start this, the states are hungry for revenue.
 
damn this is fucking crazy

I remember when the cops weren't supposed to rob you. Now they've got a nice little excuse to jack your money, then stick you in jail, then fine you more, then fuck up your record with some bullshit charge, put a dicksized dent in your life.

How dare you hang out in the woods and listen to music and get lost in your imagination? HOW DARE YOU!!!
 
Ever see the "Cops" episodes with "reverse stings" on marijuana buyers?

Some guy buys a $10 bag from a cop.

10 cops come out and slam his face into the ground breaking his nose, then they confiscate his car and fine him $10,000.

Some states/counties are just blatant with the extortion.
 
Hahahaha. So NOW I see why TN passed this illegal drug tax act!

It's not an effort to curb drug use — for some, a Bonnaroo tradition that has sent tens to the hospital and a few to the morgue — but to make sure state and local authorities recoup drug enforcement costs.

As if their dirty tactics of seizing assets and such aren't enough to pay for the "drug enforcement" costs...
 
This is absolutley ridiculous.

They are searching peoples cars as they come in to park? That itself is beyond unconstitutional, not to mention all the other laws the tax officials are breaking in the process.

Fucking unbelievable.
 
I live in NC and i recently got busted and im lucky they didnt tack on the extra taxes, cause we have a stamp tax bullshit here too. Like anyone is gonna go buy stamps to put on their stash
 
I live in NC and i recently got busted and im lucky they didnt tack on the extra taxes, cause we have a stamp tax bullshit here too. Like anyone is gonna go buy stamps to put on their stash

how the fuck do they try and convince people to buy it?
"Buy this stamp indicating that you possess illegal drugs"

you mean now I have to pay to turn myself in????
 
That is actually the sneaky way they made drugs illegal, at first it was legal as long as you had the tax stamp, but the tax was so astronomically ridiculous no one bought them.

The only people that buy them even now are stamp collectors, supposedly it is confidential and they are not allowed by law to report people that buy them to the police.
 
Damn. I know several people who went to this shit last year. When is the festival this year for '07? or did it already happen?
 
it happens sometime around this week i believe. One of my friends from work headed down there so I'm not sure on the exact date
 
yeah i went to bonaroo in like 04 with my cousins, and we brought some bags of weed with us but nothing extravagant. but yeah both my cousin and a lot of his friends all said that was the last time they would go to bonaroo cause of how commercial it got, and how much security was there. I mean, i didn't see people getting pulled out and arrested for drugs, but im fairly certain I saw a group of kids on the side of the road with their car being checked. fucked up shit these days.
 
I went last year, and they didn't even once look inside my car as I was going through the check point. The cop that escorted me through the check-point asked, "Have you been drinking and driving?", I replied, "No sir", to which he said "Why the hell not son? This here is private property". I think it's kinda stupid to bring any drugs in, because they're so many there already. At all hours of the day and night, people were offering any & every drug under the sun. Man, I wish I was there right now.
 
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