New Jersey, notorious for being among the highest-tax states in the Union, is considering a 10 percent tax on legal marijuana sales in legislation taking shape behind closed doors. If enacted, that would be the lowest tax rate on legal marijuana in the nation.
The bill in its current form would also allow allow marijuana retailers to provide spaces for customers to consume what they buy on the premises, which no other state now allows, and to make deliveries, which is now legal in California, Nevada and Oregon. Unlike many other states, growing marijuana for personal use would remain illegal in the Garden State.
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According to a recent report in NJ Advance Media, the bill as currently written would make the 10 percent tax rate permanent, unlike previous drafts that included provisions gradually raising the tax as high as 25 percent, the rate favored by Gov. Phil Murphy. The current bill reportedly is co-sponsored by Senate President Steve Sweeney, one of the state’s most powerful political leaders and an antagonist of the governor on tax and budget matters.
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