Voters in Colo. have passed (with 43 of 64 counties reporting) Proposition BB, according to the Colorado Secretary of State’s website, with a wide margin (with 69.10 percent voting for the proposition and 30.90 percent voting against it). The proposition allows the state to spend $66.0 million in marijuana tax revenues rather than refund it to taxpayers.
Prop. BB enables the state to “retain and spend state revenues that otherwise would be refunded for exceeding an estimate included in the ballot information booklet for Proposition AA and use these revenues to provide $40 million dollars for public school building construction and for other needs, such as law enforcement, youth programs, and marijuana education and prevention programs, instead of refunding these revenues to retail marijuana cultivation facilities, retail marijuana purchasers, and other taxpayers,” according to the ballot language.
Stated more simply, “If voters opted to return, $25 million would have gone to taxpayers in the form of a refund; $24 million would have gone to marijuana growers and $17 million to marijuana users,” as reported on ABC7 Denver News. “Depending on income, voters would have gotten back between $6 and $32.”
According to the proposition text, the events that led to Proposition BB being on the ballot included: “In 2012, voters 19 approved Amendment 64, which legalized the sale and use of retail (non-medical) 20 marijuana sold to adults 21 years of age and older. In 2013, voters approved 21 Proposition AA, which authorized excise and sales taxes on retail marijuana. Voters 22 received estimates of state revenue subject to the state’s constitutional spending limit 23 and revenue from the new taxes for budget year 2014-15, the first full year in which 24 the new taxes were to apply. State revenue for budget year 2014-15 was higher than 25 estimated in the Proposition AA Blue Book, while retail marijuana tax revenue was 26 slightly lower than the estimate …”
Not all were in favor of the proposition. In a Denver Post opinion column, Michael McGrady, a political science and criminal justice student at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, and Justin Haskins, editor of The Heartland Institute, wrote:
“Proposition BB allocates $40 million for public school construction and $12 million to fund marijuana education, substance abuse treatment and prevention, [and] youth mentoring services,” according to the Vote Yes on BB committee.
If Proposition BB is not passed, the millions of dollars in new tax revenue from marijuana sales will be refunded to Colorado voters. On the surface, it sounds as though voters could win either way, right?
No. Proposition BB is harmful to the state and taxpayers no matter what voters say.
With the success of the recreational marijuana industry will come further, more complex expansion. With expansion will inevitably come more state expenses related to enforcing laws, regulating marijuana sales and distribution practices, and other unforeseen costs. When it becomes necessary to add government services, where will the money come from?
Instead of sending more money to public schools or to taxpayers, a far more cautious and well-planned approach would require the state to hold the money in an account that can only be used to improve necessary government services related to this industry.”
Colorado Secretary of State Wayne W. Williams had not yet released a statement on the election results.
