xchrom (103,446 posts)
Legal Pot Estimate Cut as 44% Washington Tax Curbs Demand
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-20/legal-pot-estimate-cut-as-44-washington-tax-curbs-demand.html
Washington is poised to be as much of a disappointment as Colorado at filling its coffers from sales of legalized marijuana as buyers in the Pacific state balk at paying an effective sin tax rate of about 44 percent.
Revenue in Washington from voter-approved recreational pot sales, which start next month, is projected to fall 69 percent short of initial estimates as the state issues as few as 10 of 334 recreational licenses and the lower cost of medical marijuana undercuts demand, as it did in Colorado.
State officials across the U.S. have been watching to see whether legalizing marijuana will help balance their budgets as the economy rebounds from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Alaska voters will consider legalization in the November election, and an effort is under way to place a similar measure on the ballot in Oregon. Two years from now, legal-pot advocates plan campaigns in Arizona, California, Nevada, Massachusetts, Maine and Montana.
“The potential windfall is limited,†said Mark Kleiman, a public policy professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, who helped devise Washington’s marijuana policy as a consultant to the state. “In the first couple of months, I think the prices will be high. The tax collections will be small because the volume will be small.â€
freeplessinseattle (3,162 posts)
1. Say what!? How stupid. Obviously the brainchild of those against legalization.
So let those numbskulls pay higher property taxes then, and get reamed some other way to pay for Big Bertha.
High pot taxes = less pot consumption
High property taxes = Detroit
ohheckyeah (7,663 posts)
2. I've seen the sentiment here on DU of
legalize it and tax the hell out of it.
Greed wins again.
"High taxes are greed"
We'll count that as a confession.
Comrade Grumpy (7,937 posts)
3. We'll live and learn from Washington and Colorado's experiences.
If taxes are too high, they won't be able to end black markets.
There must be an optimum tax price-point. I'm sure some economist could come up with a chart.
The Washington initiative is too tight, anyway. Live and learn.
There already is a chart it's called
The Laffer Curve!and it is the basis of Reaganomics.
LittleBlue (5,924 posts)
6. Excessive taxation just creates a bigger black market. nt
Remember this the next time they bitch about jobs and corporate revenue going overseas.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025130442
