Is Marijuana the Answer to California’s Budget Woes?
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Time: Democratic state assemblyman Tom Ammiano has introduced legislation that would let California regulate and tax the sale of marijuana. The state's proposed $50-per-oz. pot tax would bring in about $1.3 billion a year in additional revenue. Ammiano's bill was shelved this session, but he expects to introduce a revised bill early next year. If the state legislature doesn’t act, perhaps California voters will. One group is preparing to place a statewide initiative for the November 2010 ballot that would regulate and tax the sale of marijuana for Californians 21 years of age and older. Tellingly, the group spearheading the measure calls itself TaxCannabis2010.org, stressing the revenue advantages of marijuana legalization. The group hopes to collect the required 650,000 voter signatures by January to place the measure on the ballot. In California, medical-marijuana sales are already taxed, and one community recently grabbed for a bigger slice of the pot pie. Residents in Oakland on July 21 overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure that would make the city the first in the country to establish a new tax rate for medical-marijuana businesses. The measure, which a preliminary count shows passed with 80% support, considerably hikes the tax Oakland marijuana dispensaries pay on sales, from $1.20 per $1,000 in receipts to $18 per $1,000.
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