Inside a nerve-rattling trip to pay pot taxes

[douglas9]

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jerred Kiloh’s eyes narrowed as he checked his mirror again. The black Chevy SUV with tinted windows was still behind him.

It had been hanging off Kiloh’s bumper ever since he nosed out of the parking lot behind his medical-marijuana dispensary with $40,131.88 in cash in the trunk of his hatchback.

Kiloh was unarmed, on his way to City Hall to make a monthly tax payment, and managing only stop-and-start progress in the midday traffic. He was afraid of one thing above all else: getting robbed.



https://apnews.com/2a4ccea434ec4d00a67c4249449a3476/AP-Exclusive:-Inside-a-nerve-rattling-trip-to-pay-pot-taxes

[SaschaHM]

1. So flourishing local businesses are being hampered and placed in danger

by an ever encroaching federal government...

Where's the usual states rights crowd that pops up when lgbt folks want to be treated like citizens at?

[Weekend Warrior]

2. I was in a business/investor meeting this week and one of the topics was investing in MJ.

The barriers and risks are just too high right now. Our top investors seemed to feel it was going to be huge in ten years as larger companies take over the industry. Right now it is, for the most part, a completely cash business. This brings about huge concerns even for investors who are thinking about getting in now. Another big impediment is federal tax law. Solid investors don't want the concerns like that. Cash based. Differing federal and state laws. Rapidly changing. Inconsistent outside of the fact when a shop opens its doors cash pours in. The lack of safety at many of the shops was a part of our conversation.

These investors were all licking their chops. They want in.

[samnsara]

3. do nevada brothels have to do this???? and why not???

[NurseJackie]

4. Is "Brinks" or any other armored-courier service prohibited from transporting...

... cash related to m-m dispensaries?

[brush]

5. That's what I was thinking. Why not hire armed couriers to do that?

[politicat]

7. In 2013, most of the armed couriers stopped doing business with dispensaries.

Under pressure from the DEA. In theory, none of the services are specifically disallowed from the service, but their federal contracts are worth more.

So, yeah, this is part of the problem, plus the fact that nobody in any of the legal parts of the business are allowed access to normal banking or even services like Square or non-cash processing.

[tblue37]

6. If a cop pulled him over and found all that money, he could lose it

because of the way civil forfeiture works.