The next day she was sitting in her living room when a deputy drove up. Until she say the other vehicles. Deputies and agents of the Iowa Department of Revenue had come to collect on the couple's failure to pay the drug stamp tax. The tax, which sounds more like a leftover from the Revolutionary War, is a way for Iowa to collect on the multi-million dollar drug trade. Since Sept. 1990, Iowa has required a stamp be affixed to a baggie of marijuana or a vial of cocaine.
Any illegal drug requires a stamp.
And it ain't cheap. Iowa law prevents the Department of Revenue from sharing information on drug tax stamp applicants with law enforcement agencies. Even with that assurance, few people are lining up to admit they are in possession. A program manager with the Department of Revenue says few if any stamps have been sold, except maybe to stamp collectors. Some attorneys have begun telling clients to get the tax stamps, Hardy says.