How the U.S. Government is profiting from keeping pot illegal
A new report suggests the feds could earn $5 billion in the next decade if weed stays federally banned – so where's the incentive for legalization?
Thursday, February 1, 2018
Because of the discrepancy between state and federal law, legal marijuana businesses are stuck paying twice as much as normal businesses – effective rates of up to 70 percent – in federal taxes. How much extra tax revenue makes it to the feds because of marijuana's illegality is not clear. The Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation responded to a request from Colorado Senator Cory Gardner with the projected additional amount collected from legal cannabis businesses between 2018-2027 if it remains federally illegal: $5 billion. While AG Jeff Sessions is presenting marijuana legalization as a moral problem and encouraging prosecutors to go after state-legal weed businesses, the federal government may have a financial incentive to keep cannabis listed.
