The General
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Washington D.C. - In a little more than a month, District residents will vote to decide if they want to legalize marijuana. While polls show that a majority of D.C. residents favor marijuana legalization, there's still a small population that opposes it. Among the reasons the group, called T.I.E. D.C., don't want pot legalized is the potential huge amounts of money both corporations and the government stand to gain from the taxation and regulation of marijuana. The problem, however, is that Initiative 71 doesn't include any provision for taxation and regulation. If it did however, D.C. could stand to gain a lot of money in tax revenue. About $8,769,904 per year, according to report from NerdWallet.
Before we get into what that means, here's their methodology for coming up with that number: How we sized the marijuana market in each state: Marijuana use is illegal in most states, so it's difficult to get concrete numbers on the amount of marijuana purchased and consumed. To estimate this value, we used data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration detailing the percentage of marijuana smokers ages 25 and over in each state and multiplied that percentage by the state's population older than 25 to get the number of users in each state. We then took the state's users as a percentage of total users over 25 in the U.S. and multiplied that by the total marijuana market estimate (sized at $14 billion by Harvard University economist Jeffrey Miron) to determine the market size in each state.
NerdWallet then calculated the hypothetical state sales tax revenue by adding a 15 percent excise, which is what is used for marijuana purchases in Colorado and implemented that into a formula along with the state and local tax rates compiled by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation. Naturally, these estimations are on the conservative side and don't account for "variations in excise taxes, reduced spending on law enforcement, medical marijuana sales, and potential market changes."
Based on that data, NerdWallet estimates that D.C. could pull in $8,769,904 in tax revenue for legalizing marijuana with a taxation and regulation system. To put that in perspective, D.C. raised $5,166,000 in tax revenue for alcohol sales in 2012, according to the Tax Facts report for 2013. The estimated tax revenue for alcohol in 2013 is $5,630,000 and $5,517,000 for 2014. According to the same report, the tax revenue for cigarette sales in D.C. in 2012 was $35,603,000, while the estimates for 2013 and 2014 are $38,265,000 and $38,201,000, respectively. So, legalized, taxed, and regulated marijuana in D.C.: Estimated to bring in more tax revenue than alcohol, less than cigarettes.
News Moderator - The General @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: Dcist.com
Author: Matt Cohen
Contact: Contact Us
Website: Report: Marijuana Legalization Could Bring In Over $8.7 Million In Tax Revenue: DCist
Before we get into what that means, here's their methodology for coming up with that number: How we sized the marijuana market in each state: Marijuana use is illegal in most states, so it's difficult to get concrete numbers on the amount of marijuana purchased and consumed. To estimate this value, we used data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration detailing the percentage of marijuana smokers ages 25 and over in each state and multiplied that percentage by the state's population older than 25 to get the number of users in each state. We then took the state's users as a percentage of total users over 25 in the U.S. and multiplied that by the total marijuana market estimate (sized at $14 billion by Harvard University economist Jeffrey Miron) to determine the market size in each state.
NerdWallet then calculated the hypothetical state sales tax revenue by adding a 15 percent excise, which is what is used for marijuana purchases in Colorado and implemented that into a formula along with the state and local tax rates compiled by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation. Naturally, these estimations are on the conservative side and don't account for "variations in excise taxes, reduced spending on law enforcement, medical marijuana sales, and potential market changes."
Based on that data, NerdWallet estimates that D.C. could pull in $8,769,904 in tax revenue for legalizing marijuana with a taxation and regulation system. To put that in perspective, D.C. raised $5,166,000 in tax revenue for alcohol sales in 2012, according to the Tax Facts report for 2013. The estimated tax revenue for alcohol in 2013 is $5,630,000 and $5,517,000 for 2014. According to the same report, the tax revenue for cigarette sales in D.C. in 2012 was $35,603,000, while the estimates for 2013 and 2014 are $38,265,000 and $38,201,000, respectively. So, legalized, taxed, and regulated marijuana in D.C.: Estimated to bring in more tax revenue than alcohol, less than cigarettes.
News Moderator - The General @ 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: Dcist.com
Author: Matt Cohen
Contact: Contact Us
Website: Report: Marijuana Legalization Could Bring In Over $8.7 Million In Tax Revenue: DCist
