False Promise of Tax Revenue from Pot

HealthZette ^ | 5/31/2016 | Kristen Fischer

[DenverCossack]

Dollar signs are flashing in the eyes of state lawmakers under pressure to legalize marijuana. In Arizona, the state has been told it could make $113 million if it legalizes recreational marijuana; in New Jersey, the financial promise behind a push for legalization is $300 million.

If all 50 states jump on this bandwagon, total revenues could be approximately $5.3 billion at a 15 percent tax rate, a Tax Foundation study found. That number could surge to $8 billion at a 25 percent tax rate.

More money may sound like a win for states. But some officials may be paying too much attention to the potential dollar signs — and not enough to the health and societal ramifications of making marijuana legally available.

“Legislators are being aggressively pressured by an army of lobbyists hired by the marijuana industry, which is motivated by increasing marijuana consumption,” said Henny Lasley, co-founder and project director for Smart Colorado, a nonprofit group aimed at protecting the health, safety, and well-being of children in the state. Lasley said legalization supporters claimed the model would eliminate the black market and generate revenues at the same time but that hasn’t been the case.

The state itself has emerged as a new black market, said Lasley. There are also reports of marijuana from Colorado being found internationally.

“The voters of Colorado were promised that the first $40 million annually of new tax revenue would go to our schools, and yet this annual number has not been achieved,” she said.

The revenue goals were not reached in the first two years and just $27 million has gone to schools, reports have found. A new video circulating — dubbed “How Marijuana Legalization Impacts Denver Public Schools” — aims to educate voters about how state excise taxes on marijuana are used.

[thoughtomator]

From an American perspective, our own founders grew it and there is evidence that they smoked it as well.

[Carthego delenda est]

“...and there is evidence that they smoked it as well.”

I’m very interested in that evidence. What or where is it?

[Sasparilla]

..“Acting normal and actually being normal (unimpaired) are two different things...

...That was poorly worded...

I see the grammar police are at it tonight..go fire one up and get on with life.

[thoughtomator]

Here’s an article on the subject that may help: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/02/16/did-george-washington-use-medical-marijuana.html

[kitchen]

... Denver Public Schools ... will be requesting HALF A BILLION dollars from tax payers this fall.

I suspect tax payers in Rip Blanco, Garfield, and other Western Slope counties will end up participating in this funding scheme.

[PreciousLiberty]

“I see the grammar police are at it tonight..go fire one up and get on with life.”

I didn’t write the artlcle. Nor will I “fire one up tonight” or anytime in the foreseeable future.

However, you should reflect on the next paragraph:

‘AAA concluded that such limits are “arbitrary and unsupported by science, which could result in unsafe motorists going free and others being wrongfully convicted for impaired driving.”’

Reality doesn’t conform to misconceptions.

[LegendHasIt]

I didn’t catch his name.
They were running a clip from a local radio talk show on a Ruidoso radio station, (pimping how millions of tourists would flock in if they legalized it.)

[Ken H]

Are you giving the stoners credit for that?

No, you have stoners everywhere and not everywhere is booming.

The mj regulation scheme that CO adopted deserves credit for taking $1B out of the underground market and putting it in the legal market. So it has contributed to the boom.

[Gunslingr3]

“The voters of Colorado were promised that the first $40 million annually of new tax revenue would go to our schools, and yet this annual number has not been achieved,” she said.

The revenue goals were not reached in the first two years and just $27 million has gone to schools, reports have found.

Would it be intemperate for me to ask how many millions annually were wasted by the state in the war on drugs, and what exactly that accomplished?

27 million dollars more for schools seems like a dumb thing to argue against...