With the two states cash-strapped. it was bound to happen sooner rather than later--lawmakers in Colorado and Washington are, according to New York Daily News, "considering taxing the green stuff, allowing, in essence, not only residents to get high, but state revenues to get a lift as well."
According to Politico, one Rocky Mountain congressman is estimating the taxes could bring in as much as $100 million in potential revenues for Colorado alone.
"I've seen some estimates in the high tens of millions, as much as $100 million for [colorado]," Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) told Politico.
To figure out just how the tax process would work, Colorado set up a task force in earlier March and ended up proposing two ballot measures that residents would eventually approve or vote down.
"One measure would impose a 15% excise tax on recreational marijuana that dispensaries and stores would have to pay at the wholesale level," the Denver Post reported.
"The second measure would implement a special, but still unquantified, marijuana sales tax that buyers would pay. Recreational marijuana would also be subject to standard state and local sales taxes," wrote New York Daily News.
Recreational marijuana isn't the only greenery being thought about as a tax revenue--Colorado lawmakers are also discussing whether they should follow the footsteps of Washington State and tax medicinal marijuana.
However, even though stimulation of money is the main concern for these two states, the bigger issue remains to be, how can these states legalize a drug that is still illegal in the eyes of the federal government?
The answer to that question is apparently very simple for President Barack Obama who said during an interview in December, "the federal government will not arrest individual marijuana users in states that have legalized the drug," according to New York Daily News.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
