\thttp://blogs.westword.com/latestword/2013/06/medical_marijuana_revenues_colorado_2012_199_million.phpAfter reading this article, if you were a resident of Colorado would you still vote for a 25% sales tax on recreational cannabis sales in November? Looks like Colorado made roughly $5.5 million in state sales tax in 2012 with sales open to roughly 100,000 red card holders. Assuming the in state projections are correct and the number of users goes to 1 million people (being real conservative here because that's not even accounting for tourism) the state would be in for $55 million in tax revenue at current rates, is there a need for more? I wouldn't mind a slight tax increase but for some reason after seeing those numbers 25%+ seems like a lot more than they would need.
Unfortunately for Colorado residents they better vote for the tax or the whole amendment will most likely get repealed and the whole experiment will be over before it even started Sent from my HTC VLE_U using Grasscity Forum mobile app
It's not like the people or the cities would actually see the money from it. Activist love using that line. It goes back to the city. BS. It's just makeing the higher up richer. Leave that shit in the hands if the people. I would vote that shit down. 30% is insane and the people would be morons to vote that in
Now there are some numbers that will make Kerli's teeth grind. And for every penny paid the IRS they should be charged for accepting funds procured from selling a schedule 1 substance therefore they are laundering illicit drug money. Probably paid for some of those employee meetings with some of the funds and had some product in each room. basturds
If they want 15% for taxes on this stuff, that should generate more than $27 million right? They claim that the retail sales is supposed to generate $2 billion. If thats the case, 15% of 2 billion should be $300,000,000. Thats quite a bit of tax money compared to the $5,000,000 that the medical marijuana generated. Even if they tax a fraction of that amount, it would still seem to generate numbers much higher than what they talked about. Maybe I am just looking at it wrong, or maybe those just are not realistic sales numbers.
To put it in perspective and be REALLY conservative about it, the $199 million was off of sales open to roughly about 100,000 patients. Colorado estimates that there will be roughly about 1.4 million people that will use cannabis recreationally in the state of colorado not counting tourists, so lets not even use that number and lets just say 500,000. So if $199 million was pulled in off of 100,000 MMJ patients, lets just say you make 5x that in a recreational market you would be roughly at a billion dollars. 10% cannabis sales tax + 15% excise tax + 2.9% state sales tax = 27.9% of $1,000,000,000 = $279,000,000 in tax revenue on state taxes alone not counting any local city taxes. I hope it works out and the country sees what can be had from a legal market.
WOW. This is one of the many great reasons to legalize weed. Almost $200 mil generated from selling weed, amazing!
I'm okay with the current tax proposal, I think it is pretty reasonable. Especially with the 15% excise tax going to education. Some of the schools here really could use that help. The sales tax would benefit the state greatly. You guys just have to look at the big picture. Look at how awesome the lightrail has become and the expansions they plan to do with it. Yes I'm sure some of the funds will be misused but with that much revenue it will do far more good anyways. It is pretty cheap out here as is. Even with the taxes factored in, top shelf strains would never be over $250/ounce at the rec stores. It'd be even cheaper at the dispensaries as well. I've got a feeling the market will eventually become very flooded. If they figure out how to regulate person-to-person sales, that would eliminate the black market and flood the market even more with the increasing amount of homegrowers. It'll be an interesting year for sure.
That pales when you consider that Hickenlooper became a felon when he signed Amendment 64, along with every other official that approved or enacted the resulting legislation. But the feds would rather arrest old people with cancer than govt officials... Hickenlooper isn't worried that someone's going to kick in his door late one night and hold a weapon to his head... Chickenpooper (sorry, habit calling him that) also has a habit of questioning if the new industry will be well funded enough to cover the cost of regulating it--- conveniently forgetting that Gov. Ritter earlier raided the coffers of the MMED, and diverted millions to the state general fund, at a time when the tax figures were much less, and the MMJ industry was a fledgling.
I sure see the potential; I already started a company working in cannabis tourism. (Shameless plug---- ) http://www.coloradogreenadventures.com Amendment 64 is a done deal; the potential revenue is there, and Colorado is going to benefit from it. There will be problems, and growing pains, but overall I believe this is a positive step for the state and our nation. There is considerable uncertainty regarding the exact numbers, but there are precedents we can look at, and overall the picture is promising for Colorado. PS. The concert season is just getting started.... get ready for Reggae on the Rocks!
I think its funny that the same people making a % of that $200 million are the people that said "is selling drugs really worth it?" apparently so