{"id":80379,"date":"2025-02-26T05:36:05","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T13:36:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2025\/02\/26\/new-jersey-governor-proposes-marijuana-tax-hike\/"},"modified":"2025-02-26T19:48:41","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T03:48:41","slug":"new-jersey-governor-proposes-marijuana-tax-hike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/2025\/02\/26\/new-jersey-governor-proposes-marijuana-tax-hike\/","title":{"rendered":"New Jersey Governor Proposes Marijuana Tax Hike"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

\u201cIn just five years, cannabis has gone from destroying lives\u2014in the form of excessive criminal sentences\u2014to helping save lives.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

By Sophie Nieto-Mu\u00f1oz, New Jersey Monitor<\/strong><\/p>\n

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) wants to hike a special tax on cannabis from $2.50 to $15 an ounce to fund social service and violence intervention programs with tens of millions of dollars in new revenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn just five years, cannabis has gone from destroying lives\u2014in the form of excessive criminal sentences\u2014to helping save lives,\u201d Murphy said in his budget address Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Murphy\u2019s plan comes about two months after the state Cannabis Regulatory Commission hiked the tax from $1.24 to $2.50 an ounce in December.<\/p>\n

The tax, known as the social equity excise fee, is paid by cannabis cultivators. The money goes to a dedicated fund for social equity programs and investing in communities hurt by marijuana prohibition, and another portion is allocated to programs to divert youth from cannabis.<\/p>\n

As of August 2024, the tax has brought in more than $6 million, which is all sitting unspent<\/a>, according to the cannabis agency. That money must be allocated by the Legislature and governor under the state\u2019s cannabis legalization law.<\/p>\n

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As part of his budget plan<\/a>, Murphy also wants the tax to apply to intoxicating hemp products\u2014a legal product that contains chemicals like delta-8 and delta-10, which can give intoxicating effects similar to THC in weed.<\/p>\n

Officials with the Murphy administration said they don\u2019t need the cannabis agency\u2019s approval to increase the social equity excise fee.<\/p>\n

Under Murphy\u2019s proposal<\/a>, the changes would bring in $70 million in revenue.<\/p>\n

Senate President Nicholas Scutari (D-Union), a supporter of legal cannabis, said he is not supportive of raising the tax right now. Scutari noted that it\u2019s cheaper to buy weed illegally than it is to buy it from a legal dispensary (New Jersey has some of the highest cannabis prices in the nation). He said he wants more people visiting dispensaries, and increasing cannabis taxes isn\u2019t the way to do that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to see our taxes for that product go up, which it already can\u2019t compete with the gray market, the black market product,\u201d he said. \u201cThat would be difficult right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was first published by New Jersey Monitor.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

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Bipartisan Pennsylvania Senators Announce New Marijuana Legalization Plan, Criticizing Governor\u2019s Proposed Cannabis Tax Rate As Too High<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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The post New Jersey Governor Proposes Marijuana Tax Hike<\/a> appeared first on Marijuana Moment<\/a>.<\/p>\n


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\nRead More: New Jersey Governor Proposes Marijuana Tax Hike<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIn just five years, cannabis has gone from destroying lives\u2014in the form of excessive criminal sentences\u2014to helping save lives.\u201d By Sophie Nieto-Mu\u00f1oz, New Jersey Monitor New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) wants to hike a special tax on cannabis from $2.50 to $15 an ounce to fund social service andContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":457,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[81,126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80379"}],"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\/457"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80379"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80380,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80379\/revisions\/80380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}