Editor's Note: You know how it is … money talks. As more states begin to see the potential financial benefit of RMJ sales, it will just add fuel to the pro-MJ-legalization fire, especially with estimates (said to be conservative) as large as those outlined here by NerdWallet.
On Nov. 4, citizens in Alaska, Florida, Oregon and Washington, D.C., will cast their ballots on marijuana initiatives, and other states are also likely to consider legalization in upcoming elections. Colorado, the first state to allow the sale of recreational marijuana, is expected to take in $60 million to $70 million this year in taxes from legal pot sales, according to the Denver Business Journal. Cash-strapped states stand to collect millions if they legalize the drug. Across the U.S., states could gain just over $3 billion in tax revenue from legal marijuana sales, according to a new analysis by NerdWallet. What’s your state’s piece of the pie?
Trends and takeaways
The U.S. stands to gain, according to our calculations, $3,098,866,907 in state and local taxes per year – that’s more than twice the entire budget of the Small Business Administration in 2013.
California could gain the most from taxes on sales of marijuana. The state stands to take in $519,287,052, which almost covers the 2013 budget for the California Department of Parks and Recreation.
