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NYPress - Feature - Dan Neel

Vol. 16, Iss. 51: "One Manhattan drug dealer told New York Press that the dollar value of old twenties in his hoarded "business account" nearly equals that of Michael Jackson’s bail. A truckload of dough comes to mind, but Pete’s cache of almost $3 million doesn’t even top off a duffle bag. Besides, it’s not the physical size of the money stash at issue; it’s the cost and inconvenience of having to reduce his count of old bills that irks Pete.

Unlike post office stamp machines that stick you with those pesky Pocahontas dollar coins when they dispense change, opportunities to dispense old twenties as change in a drug deal don’t occur frequently enough in the exact-change world of a pot purchase.

So Pete makes a concerted effort to spend only old twenties while laundering the balance at a rate of approximately $7500 a month (for the next 12 months, he projects) through a number of mostly retail, private businesses. Because the cash passes through the register, Pete and his associates get hit for income tax on the laundered money.

"Our stores will have a good year next year. It’ll definitely look like the economy is picking up."

Is there a way to discover how much profit the U.S. is realizing from the accelerated exposure of previously underground money to taxation? ......"

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