Colorado has an interesting series of laws; one of the most headline grabbing in recent years has run into another one from several years ago and that has produced a nice, if interesting choice for Colorado.
The Marijuana sales generate taxes for the State of Colorado. Even though the industry is considered illegal by the Feds, the people of Colorado chose to legalize it for recreational as well as medicinal purposes and Colorado has taken in millions in tax monies. This income, per the legalization law, will either be used for budgetary purposes or, as the article on the Motley Fool just laid out, we will be giving it back to the growers to help the industry grow as well as back to the citizens as a tax refund (about $5 per person, on average) with which to go out and, I guess, buy a bag of munchies to go with the next herb purchase.
In addition, since the taxes collected were over the projected amount (Colorado, a purple state with progressive laws like legal marijuana had a very good year economically - who'da thunk it?), this runs across the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) which is a holdover from the 90's and conservative law designed to strangle the states economy. Basically, if the funds taken in exceed the amount allowed by law for them to be taken in, the state can't use the extra windfall for things like long-delayed maintenance projects or a rainy day fund, but must return the funds to the taxpayers unless the taxpayers grant the state the right to keep it through an election. There are other aspects to this law which are even more difficult to work with (the ratcheting downward of revenues, but that's a different diary).
Anyway, I found the article of interest and I thought others here might as well. I signed up (you don't have to pay money to sign up to read, so it's not a paywall, but it puts your email addy in their advertising pool, probably). If people can't get to the article, a few snippets are over the cheese doodle.
If voters allow the state to keep the funds, $40 million will go to public schools and school construction, $12 million will go toward youth programs, marijuana educations, and law enforcement, and $6 million will stay within the state's General Fund. If voters don't choose this option, $33 million will be distributed back to marijuana growers, and the remaining $25 million would head back to Colorado taxpayers through a sales tax refund. In other words, the "marijuana budget boost" may not happen if voters choose the latter option.
The article goes on to say that there's a probable tax-free day because of TABOR that would cost Colorado lots of money.
This is possible because of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights in Colorado, which pretty much states that if the amount of state spending on the marijuana industry (or revenue tax collection) surpasses estimates, a refund is in order.
In 2014, recreational tax revenue collection fell short of the mark, but a healthier than expected economy in Colorado led to robust spending that surpassed expectations. In order to properly comply with the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, Colorado is suspending the 10% sales tax on marijuana for consumers and the 15% excise tax on the sale of marijuana from growers to retailers for a single day on Sept. 16 (the day after the end-of-the-year fiscal report is certified). This tax holiday will cost the state $100,000 in terms of consumer sales, but a whopping $3.6 million in excise taxes from growers.