
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, June 7, 1994                    TAG: 9406070309 
SECTION: LOCAL                     PAGE: D4    EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA  
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: 940607                                 LENGTH: RALEIGH

N.C. DRUG TAX NOT LIKE LAW REJECTED BY COURT, EASLEY SAYS

{LEAD} North Carolina's drug tax is applied differently from Montana's drug tax, which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down on Monday, the state attorney general said.

``We feel like ours is clearly distinguishable but certainly it gives us pause for concern,'' state Attorney General Mike Easley said.

{REST} The nation's highest court ruled that states may not force people to pay drug-possession taxes in addition to criminal penalties. Such taxes are barred by the Constitution's ban on double punishment for the same crime, the court's 5-4 decision in a Montana case said.

Most states impose such taxes on people already convicted of drug-possession crimes. The decision striking down the Montana tax calls into question the validity of those laws.

Montana makes it clear that its tax is punitive, Easley said. ``North Carolina's tax is for the distribution of the controlled substance and is for revenue purposes with no relationship to any arrest or conviction,'' he said. ``As a matter of fact, we have several cases where we've collected the tax and there has been no arrest or conviction.''

In addition, North Carolina has a stamp that drugs are required to buy just like people who sell fruit juices and soft drinks, Easley said.

No one has bought a stamp to distribute drugs, he said.

North Carolina has collected $16 million since January 1990, he said. The next highest collection is Kansas with $600,000, he said.

Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the majority opinion, joined by Justices Harry A. Blackmun, Anthony M. Kennedy, David H. Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

``This drug tax is not the kind of remedial sanction that may follow the first punishment of a criminal offense,'' Stevens said, adding that the state might consider increasing the fines for criminal convictions.

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas dissented.

Rehnquist said the decision ``drastically alters existing law.''

``We have never previously subjected a tax statute to double jeopardy analysis,'' Rehnquist said.

An auction of property seized from drug dealers violating the tax law raised $99,000 Saturday, said Jean Kossoff, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Revenue.

{KEYWORDS} DRUGS ILLEGAL TAXES by CNB