Oh, please.
"Oh, please."
I gather you're thinking drug dealers would collect sales tax from the users? Of course not. But they have to buy cars and food and gas and beer like everyone else, so their drug money gets taxed when the spend it.
Now, of course, one of the 'perks' to working under the table or on illegal things is you dodge the income tax.
Actually the statement that the drug dealers would pay is correct. They would, of course, pay on sales of legal retail items, not hard street drugs. You can say the same thing about the subterranean economy: illegal aliens, black market, etc. I've heard estimates as high as $1.5 Trillion a year in subterranean economy that goes untaxed.
Explain....
Don't you pay sales tax when you purchase goods regardless of where you got the money or do you just refuse to pay it by saying this money was earned illegally and I don't have to pay tax on it.