According to a new report released by
\nDenver-based Vicente Sederberg LLP, the state of Colorado has collected more
\nthan $1 billion in marijuana-related taxes and fees.<\/p>\n
The numbers became official when the Department of Revenue released its data on marijuana sales and revenue for April 2019. The report noted that April also happened to be the 64th month of marijuana sales following the implementation of Amendment 64<\/a> in January 2014 after the amendment was passed on Election Night 2012. In the years since $6.56 billion sales have taken place in Colorado, including more than $4.46 billion in adult-use sales and nearly $2.1 billion in medical sales, according to the report.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cAmendment 64 has clearly fulfilled its promise of raising significant new revenue for school construction projects,\u201d said Vicente Sederberg founding partner Brian Vicente, a lead co-author of Amendment 64 who also chaired the committee in support of Proposition AA<\/a>, the measure that implemented taxes on adult-use cannabis.<\/p>\n Vicente went on to note he never expected \u201cWe were never under the illusion that The bulk of the funds collected came in \u201cGenerating tax revenue is not the only reason So where did the money go? All kinds of places, but a lot went to schools. Roughly 42% of all the funds collected since 2014 ended up in the public schools<\/a> with the lion\u2019s share going to the Capital Construction Assistance Fund. The construction fund received $194 million. Another $69 million ended up in the permanent public school fund.<\/p>\n The next biggest takes from the revenue went In the end, Amendment 64 has blown past some of the earliest guesstimates on what the final take would be for the state. Back in 2012, three months before the election, the Colorado Center on Law and Policy estimated legal cannabis would generate the state $32 million<\/a> for its coffers and save another $12 million they wouldn\u2019t need to send local governments. The report expected $60 million total in combined savings and new revenue with the potential for this number to double after 2017. In 2014 Colorado saw $67 million in income alone, never mind the additional savings. Last year the market was worth $266 million to the state, further crushing the 2017 expectations.<\/p>\n \u201cColorado is reaping the benefits of legalizing marijuana for adult use,\u201d Widney Brown, managing director of policy for the Drug Policy Alliance said in a release. \u201cWe are seeing the dividend of ending prohibition. People\u2019s lives are no longer being destroyed for the simple act of enjoying cannabis and the revenue is being invested into public health, education and prevention. It\u2019s a win-win outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n TELL US<\/strong>, have you ever purchased cannabis in Colorado?<\/p>\n The post Colorado Has Hit $1 Billion in Tax Revenue Since Marijuana Was Legalized<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
According to a new report released by Denver-based Vicente Sederberg LLP, the state of Colorado has collected more than $1 billion in marijuana-related taxes and fees. The numbers became official when the Department of Revenue released its data on marijuana sales and revenue for April 2019. The report noted thatContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1408,50,2355,21,170,3048],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36041"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36041"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36042,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36041\/revisions\/36042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\ncannabis to be a one size fits all Band-Aid to Colorado\u2019s problems, but it will
\ncertainly help the cause.<\/p>\n
\nlegalization would be a fiscal panacea, but we knew it would have a substantial
\nand positive impact,\u201d Vicente said. \u201cFunds are being used on everything from
\nbuilding schools to hiring school health professionals and paying for bullying
\nprevention programs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nthrough the special sales tax. In total, the tax collected $558 million of the
\ntotal revenue. The next biggest earner was the state excise tax on marijuana,
\nwhich brought in a little bit more than a quarter billion at $261 million. The
\nstate\u2019s standard sales tax brought in $126 million pot bucks. And finally, all
\nthe fees from licensing the cannabis industry amounted to $70 million.<\/p>\n
\nor even the best reason to regulate cannabis,\u201d said Mason Tvert, who
\nco-directed the Amendment 64 campaign and now serves as vice president of
\ncommunications at VS Strategies, Vicente Sederberg\u2019s public affairs consulting
\naffiliate. \u201cBut when those revenues start adding up to more than $1 billion, as
\nthey have in Colorado, it\u2019s a pretty attractive bonus. It\u2019s crazy to think how
\nmuch money states are flushing down the toilet by keeping marijuana in an
\nillegal market.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nto treatment, prevention and other health services. All together those programs
\naccounted for a quarter of the money. The report also noted funds were used to
\ncover the costs of regulation, which accounts for a relatively small fraction
\nof marijuana-related revenue. A portion of the tax revenue is also shared with
\nlocal governments.<\/p>\n
\n
\nRead More: Colorado Has Hit Billion in Tax Revenue Since Marijuana Was Legalized<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"