{"id":49619,"date":"2021-08-25T14:31:18","date_gmt":"2021-08-25T22:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2021\/08\/25\/colorado-will-vote-on-raising-marijuana-taxes-to-fund-education-programs-this-november-officials-confirm\/"},"modified":"2021-08-25T19:46:21","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T03:46:21","slug":"colorado-will-vote-on-raising-marijuana-taxes-to-fund-education-programs-this-november-officials-confirm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2021\/08\/25\/colorado-will-vote-on-raising-marijuana-taxes-to-fund-education-programs-this-november-officials-confirm\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado Will Vote On Raising Marijuana Taxes To Fund Education Programs This November, Officials Confirm"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Colorado voters will decide on an initiative in November that would raise marijuana taxes to fund programs<\/a> that are meant to reduce the education gap for low-income students.<\/p>\n

The secretary of state confirmed<\/a> on Wednesday that the campaign behind the measure collected more than the required 124,632 valid signatures to make the ballot.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Learning Enrichment and Academic Progress (LEAP) measure<\/a> would give low- and middle-income families a $1,500 stipend to have school-aged children participate in after-school programs, tutoring and summer learning activities.<\/p>\n

If Initiative 25 is approved, the state excise tax on sales adult-use cannabis products would be gradually increased from 15 percent to 20 percent to fund the effort. Starting January 1, there would be a three percent increase in the current excise tax. That would increase to a five percent increase beginning in January 2024.<\/p>\n

Colorado would collect an additional $138 million per year to fund the measure once the final tax rate is set, according to a fiscal analysis.<\/p>\n

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Supporters say this policy is especially needed as a response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has exacerbated income-related learning gaps for students. But some marijuana industry stakeholders\u2014and even the state\u2019s largest teachers union\u2014have expressed concerns about the proposal.<\/p>\n

Beyond imposing the extra five percent tax on cannabis, the initiative also calls for a repurposing of state revenue that it generates from leases and rents for operations held on state land.<\/p>\n

Some stakeholders and cannabis advocates have come out strongly against the proposal, arguing that it would detract from social equity efforts.<\/p>\n

The measure is being\u00a0endorsed<\/a>\u00a0by a two former governors, about 20 sitting state lawmakers, several former legislative leaders and several other educational organizations.<\/p>\n

But in June, the Colorado Education Association\u00a0withdrew<\/a>\u00a0its support for the proposal over concerns about how it would be implemented.<\/p>\n

This development comes weeks after Colorado officials announced the launch of a new office to provide economic support for the state\u2019s marijuana industry<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The division, which was created as part of a\u00a0bill\u00a0signed into law in March, is\u00a0being funded by cannabis tax revenue<\/a>. It will focus on creating \u201cnew economic development opportunities, local job creation, and community growth for the diverse population across Colorado.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gov. Jared Polis (D) had initially asked lawmakers back in January to\u00a0create a new cannabis advancement program<\/a>\u00a0as part of his budget proposal.<\/p>\n

Beyond this\u00a0program, the state has worked to achieve equity and repair the harms of prohibition in other ways.<\/p>\n

For example, Polis signed a bill in May to\u00a0double the marijuana possession limit for adults<\/a>\u00a0in the state\u2014and he directed state law enforcement to identify people with prior convictions for the new limit who he may be able to pardon.<\/p>\n

The governor signed an executive order last year that\u00a0granted clemency to almost 3,000 people<\/a>\u00a0convicted of possessing one ounce or less of marijuana.<\/p>\n

Funding for the new office is made possible by tax revenue from a booming cannabis market in the state. In the first three months of 2021 alone, the state saw\u00a0more than half a billion dollars in marijuana sales<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The lack of access to federal financial support for marijuana businesses became a pronounced issue amid the coronavirus pandemic, with the Small Business Administration saying it\u2019s\u00a0unable to offer those companies its services<\/a>, as well as those that provide ancillary services such as accounting and law firms.<\/p>\n

Polis\u00a0wrote a letter to a member of the Colorado congressional delegation<\/a>\u00a0last year seeking a policy change to give the industry the same resources that were made available to other legal markets.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the state\u2019s attorney general on Wednesday sent a letter urging congressional leaders to ensure that small marijuana businesses are protected<\/a> from being overtaken by Big Tobacco and other major industries as federal cannabis reform legislation advances.<\/p>\n

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Arizona Brings In $21 Million In Marijuana Tax Revenue For July, With Recreational Sales Catching Up To Medical<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post Colorado Will Vote On Raising Marijuana Taxes To Fund Education Programs This November, Officials Confirm<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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Colorado voters will decide on an initiative in November that would raise marijuana taxes to fund programs that are meant to reduce the education gap for low-income students. The secretary of state confirmed on Wednesday that the campaign behind the measure collected more than the required 124,632 valid signatures toContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":458,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49619"}],"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\/458"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49619"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49620,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49619\/revisions\/49620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}