Editor's Note: $3 million (Washington) and $18.9 million (Colorado) in taxes is nothing to sneeze at, and those states eyeing up legalization would do well to look to Washington and Colorado for tax implications–but also for the number of jobs created, and especially the tourism dollars being generated (add in flights, rental cars, hotels, restaurants). The Colorado Department of Revenue estimates "that purchases by out-of-state visitors currently represent about 44 percent of metro area retail sales and about 90 percent of retail sales in heavily visited mountain communities."
When voters in Alaska, Oregon, Washington, D.C., Florida and Guam head to the polls in November to decide whether to legalize marijuana, either for medical or recreational use, some may wonder how much new tax revenue legalization might bring in.
The answer, according to early returns in Colorado and Washington: nobody knows.
In Washington, which opened the doors to recreational marijuana (also known as retail or adult-use marijuana) on July 9, the state expects to collect taxes of $3 million on sales of $12 million as of September 8. Washington imposes taxes of 25 percent at the producer, processor and retail levels. Because state officials were unsure how much revenue the new market would bring in, the state is not counting it as revenue to fund its current two-year budget.
