Will be interesting to see how this plays out – http://ca.news.yahoo.com/supporters-declare-victory-colorado-measure-tax-recreational-pot-044430275.html
DENVER (Reuters) – A Colorado measure to impose sales and excise taxes of 25 percent on newly legalized recreational marijuana and earmark the first $40 million in revenue for public schools was approved by voters on Tuesday, Governor John Hickenlooper said.
The move showed a willingness on the part of Colorado voters to tax marijuana for the public benefit even as they roundly defeated a broader tax measure that would have increased state income taxes to raise $1 billion for schools.
Colorado and Washington last year became the first U.S. states to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes. But Colorado, whose constitution requires a statewide vote to approve tax increases, left it to voters to decide how to tax the newly legal drug.
"We are grateful voters approved funding that will allow for a strong regulatory environment, just like liquor is regulated," Hickenlooper said as returns showed 65 percent of voters in favor of the tax and 35 percent against with about a quarter of votes counted.
"We will do everything in our power to make sure kids don’t smoke pot and that we don’t have people driving who are high. This ballot measure gives Colorado the ability to regulate marijuana properly," the Democratic governor said in a statement.
Under the marijuana tax proposal, a combined 15 percent excise and 10 percent sales tax would be imposed on recreational pot sales, with the first $40 million raised to fund school construction projects.
In Denver, a local ballot measure that would tack an additional 3.5 percent city sales tax on pot shops also appeared headed for passage, by a margin of 69 to 31 percent with roughly a third of votes counted.
Even as many proponents of legalizing recreational marijuana supported taxing the drug, some within the pot legalization community opposed the tax.
Rachel Gillette, president of Colorado’s chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said before the vote that her organization was not against taxing cannabis sales, but that the state was going too far.
"This is not keeping with the promise to tax marijuana like alcohol," Gillette said. "It’s more like regulating the sale of plutonium than alcohol. It looks like a law-enforcement money grab."
BROADER TAS MEASURE FAILS
Backers of a statewide proposal that would have increased the state income tax to raise nearly $1 billion annually for public schools conceded defeat on Tuesday, as returns showed it losing 66 percent to 34 percent with about 25 percent of votes counted.
"Tonight, we know that goal isn’t happening as soon as we’d like. But it will happen," said state Senator Mike Johnston, a Democrat from Denver.
The school funding constitutional amendment would have scrapped the state’s current 4.63 percent flat income tax rate tied to federal adjusted gross income tax, and replaced it with a two-tiered income tax increase.
Under the proposal, taxpayers who made less than $75,000 would have paid a 5 percent rate and taxpayers who made over $75,000 would have faced a 5.9 percent rate.
Proponents of the measure say Colorado has for years underfunded public education, and sought voter approval to put school funding on a surer financial footing.
Opponents argued that Colorado requires local school districts to allocate tax revenues, so there is no guarantee on how the money will be spent at the local level, which could be used on teacher salaries or to backfill the state’s underfunded public employees retirement fund.
Backers of the tax raised more than $10 million for their campaign, bombarding television and radio airwaves with ads, touting the need for money to fund full-day kindergarten, and to restore music, art and physical education programs.
Among the donors to the pro-tax measure were Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who, combined, donated $2 million to the campaign.
If the tax is too high, then the Black Market will keep humming right along… :popcorn:
25 % is just too high…that is like making something legal, but then pricing it so no one can afford it..
we are talking recreational here….so no ones med insurance would cover that..
Do Med Mary Users get insurance coverage to help buy their pot?
25 % is just too high…that is like making something legal, but then pricing it so no one can afford it..
we are talking recreational here….so no ones med insurance would cover that..
Do Med Mary Users get insurance coverage to help buy their pot?
Good question – no idea if a Med Card would get you prescription coverage. That would be sweet! :Smokey:
As for the tax, it could definitely defeat the whole point of legalization. Makes little sense to make it high. Do believe you can still grow your own under the law in CO, though. That’s what I would be doing.
:goodpost
me too..I want to move somewhere like Florida or Hawaii and grow year round. That would be so sweet
Growing year round in Hawaii – YES!!! :weinerwiggle:
:goodpost
me too..I want to move somewhere like Florida or Hawaii and grow year round. That would be so sweet
Growing Year-Round anywhere ya live,
Inside your house with grow lights
Far as that exhorbitant tax rate, they always got the other market,
the black market never closes & they don’t charge tax neither
:goodpost
me too..I want to move somewhere like Florida or Hawaii and grow year round. That would be so sweet
Indoor trees are best trees. Grab some auto flowers from a seed bank and have at it. They are very forgiving and easy AF to grow.
It feels good to be running from the devil
Another breath and I'm up another level
It feels good to be up above the clouds
It feels good for the first time in a long time now
:goodpost
me too..I want to move somewhere like Florida or Hawaii and grow year round. That would be so sweet
Indoor trees are best trees. Grab some auto flowers from a seed bank and have at it. They are very forgiving and easy AF to grow.
http://www.amsterdammarijuanaseedbank.com/seedshop/strains/afghan_feminized_marijuana_seeds.html
I am thinking about trying it..i bet my wife kills me before I get very far..
There’s no doubt that some amazing work can be done indoors with the right strain and the proper equipment. That being said, a retirement plan that includes a farm in Hawaii would be the perfect end game for me! :stoned
Way to drive something legal back underground. :-
This tax is ludicrous. *Nothing* is subjected to a 25% tax in any sane society.
The only parallel I can draw is cigarettes. $0.75 to produce + tax = $6. WTF?
America is slowly being possessed by a subculture of do-nothings who want to legislate their way into a free ride at the expense of anyone who dares lift a finger to actually *work*.
Fuck a bunch of "sin" taxes. Tax the fucking churches – they’re the ones who have this whole "sin" concept with the great sky being and all. I don’t view any of these things as "sin", so I should pay no tax. The moral judgments being legislated make me wanna fucking puke.
Of course, our "elected" officials are at the top of the heap skimming the sweetest cream, but they’re making the lesser (and much more numerous) do-nothings dance to their tune with "free" handouts.
This is the basic flaw of democracy: it assumes that the majority is smart enough to know what’s good for them. A simple trip to Walmart will disperse this fallacy quite effectively.
An idiot’s vote counts as much as a genius’…and they are in the vast majority.
Cloward-Priven is being implemented and coming along smashingly, from what I can tell. :-
Way to drive something legal back underground. :-
This tax is ludicrous. *Nothing* is subjected to a 25% tax in any sane society.
The only parallel I can draw is cigarettes. $0.75 to produce + tax = $6. WTF?
America is slowly being possessed by a subculture of do-nothings who want to legislate their way into a free ride at the expense of anyone who dares lift a finger to actually *work*.
Fuck a bunch of "sin" taxes. Tax the fucking churches – they’re the ones who have this whole "sin" concept with the great sky being and all. I don’t view any of these things as "sin", so I should pay no tax. The moral judgments being legislated make me wanna fucking puke.
Of course, our "elected" officials are at the top of the heap skimming the sweetest cream, but they’re making the lesser (and much more numerous) do-nothings dance to their tune with "free" handouts.
This is the basic flaw of democracy: it assumes that the majority is smart enough to know what’s good for them. A simple trip to Walmart will disperse this fallacy quite effectively.
An idiot’s vote counts as much as a genius’…and they are in the vast majority.
Cloward-Priven is being implemented and coming along smashingly, from what I can tell. :-
Not only does NYC want to up the age for tobacco purchases to 21, they want to increase the minimum price per pack of cigs/small cigars to $10.50. Ludacris on the sin taxes.
"Besides raising the age to buy cigarettes, the Council also approved various other antismoking measures, such as increased penalties for retailers who evade tobacco taxes, a prohibition on discounts for tobacco products, and a minimum price of $10.50 a pack for cigarettes and little cigars."
http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/69a3de629747b624410f6a706700dde1.jp g” alt=””>
Sail and grow
Deep inside
The brave align
Green we stay
-Boss Keloid Lung Valley
Way to drive something legal back underground. :-
This tax is ludicrous. *Nothing* is subjected to a 25% tax in any sane society.
The only parallel I can draw is cigarettes. $0.75 to produce + tax = $6. WTF?
America is slowly being possessed by a subculture of do-nothings who want to legislate their way into a free ride at the expense of anyone who dares lift a finger to actually *work*.
Fuck a bunch of "sin" taxes. Tax the fucking churches – they’re the ones who have this whole "sin" concept with the great sky being and all. I don’t view any of these things as "sin", so I should pay no tax. The moral judgments being legislated make me wanna fucking puke.
Of course, our "elected" officials are at the top of the heap skimming the sweetest cream, but they’re making the lesser (and much more numerous) do-nothings dance to their tune with "free" handouts.
This is the basic flaw of democracy: it assumes that the majority is smart enough to know what’s good for them. A simple trip to Walmart will disperse this fallacy quite effectively.
An idiot’s vote counts as much as a genius’…and they are in the vast majority.
Cloward-Priven is being implemented and coming along smashingly, from what I can tell. :-
Well said, EG, and I could not agree more. The fun part is hearing all of these idiots rambling on about democracy when our Founders absolutely loathed the concept of Democracy, and that is exactly why the gave us a republic instead – if we can keep it. Ever notice how communist countries like to call themselves democratic?
LOL yeah Uruk, I always laughed when some tin-pot dictator would call their country "The liberated democratic free citizen’s republic federation of buttfuckia" or some shit. :bakedmonkey: