Colorado Counties Ban Sale of Marijuana, Want Share of Proposed State Sales Tax Anyway
Of course they do
As Colorado works on a statewide tax regime for recreational marijuana, counties that are banning the sale of marijuana in their jurisdictions are already arguing they should get a portion of the state ax revenue on marijuana.
The debate continues over which counties will receive money if Coloradans pass a sales tax on recreational marijuana.
Some Colorado counties want their slice of marijuana sales tax revenues — even those who voted against recreational marijuana, such as Douglas County. Some call it hypocritical.
The answer is going to be then, why was my county not able to opt out of allowing the smoking of it at all?" Douglas County Commissioner Jack Hilbert said.
Hilbert argues that counties next to those that allow it to be sold will need to pay for an assortment of social problems produced by marijuana smokers.
Hilbert mentioned families that experience "financial problems," unspecified "domestic situations" and even "child neglect issues" as problems his government will need more money to deal with because of the legalization of marijuana. Supporters of legalization in the legislature point out the legalization of marijuana saves the counties money by freeing police and jail resources previously wasted on marijuana users.
The coming taxes on legal marijuana are set to be a lot stiffer than the taxes on alcohol, the product marijuana was supposed to be taxed and regulated in a similar fashion to according to the proposition that legalized it in Colorado.
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