Marijuana Possibilities for Michigan
Recently California has evaluated legalizing marijuana completely similar to alcohol. The preliminary plan would charge sales tax, a hefty licensing fee for stores selling it. The state projects it could raise HUNDREDS of Millions of dollars. The state’s voters were recently polled and 56% of voters said they would support the proposal.
The question we pose is should Michigan pose a similar law, tax the marijuana sales under the sales tax law and an added premium tax similar to the liquor tax to be put into a future medical care fund. Stores would have to pay for a license similar to a liquor license so revenue is available through that avenue as well with added annual licensing and state or local facility inspection fees. Another question is could local municipalities be allowed to impose a “city or local” tax to help local governments managing the process recover its costs……
These are all areas that question should this be evaluated under these tough economic times? We do not support either position but are posing the question. Is it worth looking at for Michigan as well if it could provide greatly needed revenue?
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Tags: Marijuana Marijuana in Michigan Marijuana Legalization in Michigan
The state is stupid to think it will raise hundreds of millions of dollars. They will be lucky to generate a million dollars.
Currently, people grow it in their basement in a 10 ft x 20 ft area (200 square feet). This creates a very small supply increasing prices. If it is legalized a farmer could plant 1 acre (43,560 square feet) and produce more than 200 times as much as a current grower. One farmer planting a small field could produce as much as 4,000 current growers. If multiple farmers planted multiple fields the resulting increase in supply would drop the price by an extremely large amount.
Additionally, part of the price now is because it is illegal. With that gone, the price would have a natural drop anyway.
I would not be surprised if the price dropped a 100 fold which would mean the taxes would generate about 100 times less than anticipated.
On top of all that, the current growers would not want to comply because they would then have to pay taxes on their earnings. Right now their sales do not get added to their Federal or State taxes. After this gets legalized, they would have to claim all of that income. Meaning they would most likely stay operating illegally to keep more of what little value their sales generate.
The actual generation of tax revenue would be pennies on the dollar for what they anticipate.
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Why are the City of Troy $7000 drug dogs
not allowed in Troy Schools.
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