Colorado just became the first state in history to generate more tax revenue from marijuana than from alcohol.
According to the Colorado Department of Revenue, Colorado brought in $70 million in taxes related to marijuana over the past year. Compare that to less than $42 million brought in during the same time period for alcohol.
Yesterday, Colorado declared a marijuana tax holiday, meaning that for just that one day, there were no taxes on marijuana.
“Marijuana taxes have been incredibly productive over the past year, so this tax holiday is a much-deserved day off. This will be the one day out of the year when the state won’t generate significant revenue. Over the other 364 days, it will bring in tens of millions of dollars that will be reinvested in our state.” – Mason Tvert, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project, said in a statement
The exact amount CO created in marijuana tax revenue during the fiscal yaer 2014 to 2015 was $69,898,059. Not bad.
One of the reasons why marijuana has overtaken alcohol tax revenue is that marijuana users spend more money on pot than Americans generally spend on alcohol or tobacco.
According to a recent publication by the Marijuana Business Daily, the average amount of money spent of marijuana in the 4 states where the drug is legal is $1,800 per year. Alcohol spending during a year is marked at only $450 per year and tobacco at only $315 per year.
“It’s crazy how much revenue our state used to flush down the drain by forcing marijuana sales into the underground market.It’s even crazier that so many states are still doing it. Tax revenue is just one of many good reasons to replace marijuana prohibition with a system of regulation.” – Mason Tvert, director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project, said in a statement
The average amount of money spent “ON” marijuana not ” OF” I think ????
Is that the average amount spent per person per year $1,800 ?
Your intern needs to be more careful.