Wash. Pot Consultant Thinks State Is Overprojecting Tax Revenue
Believes they'll bring in half of the cash they think they will
Washington's new pot consultant has one overarching, discouraging message for lawmakers and state budget writers: don't look at weed as an ATM.
Potential tax revenues will probably be less than half of the $450 million that's been projected, said Dr. Mark Kleiman, in a interview Thursday night with TVW's Austin Jenkins.
More important, Kleiman said, to rely on money from pot — like money from gambling, alcohol and tobacco — means relying on abuse and addiction, which are not necessarily desirable state goals.
(Hat tip to Paul)
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post comments
Why would anyone grow their own for practically free when they could just give the state loads of cash?