[420 Girl]

Jacob Hunter with eNDProhibition, the anti-prohibition wing of the New Democratic Party, thinks ending the war on drugs could save the federal government billions in program and enforcement spending, and generate another $10 billion in taxes from $40 billion in economic activity from the now-illegal drug trade.

Here are his assumptions:

-- $10 billion in forgone taxes in the drug trade from $30 billion in market activity in BC, Quebec and Ontario, with the rest of Canada offering another $10 billion. (With is corporate tax rate at 38%, this number makes sense.)

-- $3 billion in taxes are spent annually on the drug war by federal, provincial and municipal governments. (The only federal figure I’ve seen for drug war spending is $500 million, but I believe this figure excludes enforcement activity.)

-- $7 billion in opportunity costs. (I don’t know what this figure represents.)

In an email sent today to eNDProhibition members, Hunter wrote:

Last week the Conservative Party announced that they will be posting $34 and $30 billion dollar deficits for the next two years. Jack Layton and the NDP announced that they will oppose the budget but failed to mention that ending prohibition would add more than $10 billion per year to government coffers while adding $30 billion in market activity to the economy.

Instead of listening to the majority of Canadians and legalizing marijuana, our government is instead burdening future generations with $64 billion in additional debt.

Harper is increasing taxes on future generations to the tune of $64 billion, and using that money to cut taxes today. Raising taxes tomorrow in order to save today from the same fate. Lowering taxes while increasing spending is the very same failed ideology that led to this economic crisis in the first place.

There is a lot of wisdom in Hunter’s statement. The war on drugs has been a costly failure, and ending prohibition could eliminate billions of dollars of wasteful spending and create economic activity. Also, cutting taxes while running a deficit is a criminal practice that shifts the burden of taxes from one generation of the next. It’s taxation without representation or compensation.

The problem with NDP thinking is that while they often oppose deficit spending, they also oppose reducing the size of government. What they seem to want is big government and high taxes, a recipe for economic ruin.

Given NDP Leader Jack Layton’s demonstrated willingness in the recent federal election to abandon NDP candidates who advocate drug policy reform, including eNDProhibition founder Dana Larsen, Hunter and the other activists with eNDProhibition would likely do more good working with the Libertarian Party, or even lobbying from within the ranks of the Conservative Party membership, which still harbours grassroots libertarians and anti-prohibition MPs like Scott Reid.

http://www.420magazine.com/forums/in...-deficits.html