Taxes and marijuana have a long and interesting history. Currently, weed is legal at the state level some places, but, at the federal level no where. This causes businesses selling ganja a lot of trouble, as, for example, banking regulations prohibit banks for dealing with businesses involved in selling illegal goods (which grass currently is). The unbankedness, at least historically, of vendors of dope lead to the fascinating result that these businesses had to pay their taxes in cash, which for a large business can be a lot of cash. One of the most remarkable interactions between mary jane and taxes is that taxes have frequently been used as a justification of the legalization of the reefer–pot proponents taut the extra tax inflows that will result from taxed sales of the wacky tobaccy.
In any event, on 4/20, those who are into this sort of thing celebrate the locoweed. So, in honor of them, here is an artifact from The Tax Museum. It is a pair of tax stamps sold associated with the use of “Opium, coco leaves, marihuana, etc.”, by two Wisconsin dentists in 1957, and, 1967. These stamps were donated to the The Tax Museum by its most generous benefactor.
