Colorado Expects Tax Surplus From Legal Cannabis, Considers Refund To Taxpayers
Tens of millions of dollars could be refunded to Colorado taxpayers due to taxes made from legal cannabis sales far exceeded initial estimations.
The
state’s Office of Legal Services to the Joint Budget Committee released a memo this week stating that if Colorado collects more than $67 million in revenue from pot sales, the overage is required to be refunded to taxpayers, due to the state’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR).
The most current Department of Revenue estimate forecasts that the state will take in at least $100 million in taxes for 2014, exceeding the estimate by at least $40 million.
The state has a few options to deal with this. One option is to lower the state’s tax-rate on cannabis as to lower the amount of tax revenue brought in for the year to meet the $67 million estimate; another option is to provide a tax refund to either those who have purchased cannabis, or to everyone in the state.
A third option is to put a proposal to a vote of the people this November which asks voters if the legislature can keep the money, to spend as they so choose.
“Ultimately, one way or another, the people of this state are going to have a great say about how this extra money is spent”, says Representative Crisanta Duran, who Chairs the Joint Budget Committee.
“We have to follow TABOR and either take the decision back to the people of Colorado and ask them to keep these dollars or we have to make a refund.”
– TheJointBlog
David Aquarius
Jump the gun much? There’s a lot of work still to do in both WA and CO as far as taxation is concerned (especially WA!) so talking about refunds is a tad premature. I couldn’t see giving tax money back to the people when the schools and other infrastructure problems still exist. But then wingnuts would rather get a $30 check from the state than see the roads and bridges fixed. or the schools repaired or anything else that helps the common folk.
We need to get the taxation down to reasonable levels so that the state can compete with the black market and still reap the benefit of legal cannabis. Medical cannabis should be separate and taxed differently to prevent patients from being priced out of their medicine.
Until we can get these issues addressed, we will still have a thriving black market and a bunch of conservative jackasses pointing at our failures with a big ‘I told you so’. The other thing we have to do is VOTE! Get off your stoner asses and cast a ballot! The ‘morans’ that cause the most grief get elected ’cause their idiots back home vote at 80%, where progressives barely hit the low 30’s. Saying ‘voting don’t matter’ is pure stupidity and smacks of cowardice. If you feel passionate about the issue, show it where it counts, at the ballot box. We got the law passed, now we have to force the do-nothings in Congress to make it work to our benefit. Nothing scares a lawmaker like the prospect of getting kicked off the gravy train.
Selena Eon
Interestingly, in this interview (http://kuow.org/post/legislature-fails-pass-medical-pot-regulations-despite-feds-warning) Jenny Durkan states that CO tax revenues for cannabis came in UNDER expectations… hmm…
Joe Lively
@Selena Eon
maybe you should reread the description for the interview.
“Marcie Sillman talks with Jenny Durkan, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, about the state failing to pass medical pot regulations and what the federal government might do about it.”
Clearly it states she is the US Attorney for the western district of Washington….. not Colorado. Washington has come up for review because they have not met all federal regulations….. weeell federal regulations still say its illegal so there really is no meeting their regulations regardless. Should they need some extra work in their taxation department Im sure it will be fixed, we all know anything moving through the government channels does not happen overnight.
Marty Loftis
I would like to know if there are any dispenseries in Alberta or anywhere in Canada. Please help before I wind up in jail lol!