California tax board: Legal pot could generate $1.4 billiona
California could see a nearly $1.4 billion per year increase in state revenues were it to legalize marijuana, the state Board of Equalization says in an analysis of pending legislation to to do that.
The bill (Assembly Bill 390) by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, is still awaiting its first committee hearing and is likely not to be considered until next year.
The article goes on to explain that it would impose both a sales tax and a $50 per ounce fee on marijuana sales. Those are eye-popping numbers and with 41% of all Americans and a majority of Americans under 35 supporting legalization, it appears that the time has finally come to institute Harm Reduction drug policies nation-wide, as supported by the new drug czar and President Obama.
This nefarious war on mostly poor Americans is a make or break issue for me because it is at the core of the civil liberties abuses that were so rampant during the last repub party administration. It is in effect a paramilitary war.
California already grows and sells 8.6 million pounds a year, why not tax it?