Michigan Based Cannabis Legal Group Breaks Down Recreational Marijuana Taxes Since Legalization

9 & 10 news reports….The state of Michigan currently charges a six percent sales tax on recreational marijuana along with a ten percent excise tax. Barton Morris with Cannabis Legal Group gave us a closer look at how those taxes break down.“That money does go to the general fund, but it is earmarked for specific projects including schools, roads, but also some of that money is going to go back to the communities in which these facilities are created,” said Morris.

Lit Provisioning Centers in Evart opened Friday.

It was a big hit.

In two days they served more than 750 customers, and did $75,000 in recreational sales with the average customers spending $103.

They actually ran out of available flower, expecting more early this week.

Those numbers hold a flame to the first day of recreational sales downstate.

That raked in more than $220,000 from 2,200 people across four business.

We wanted to take a closer look at how recreational marijuana is taxed in Michigan and how it compares to other states.

Medical marijuana is taxed with a six percent sales tax, but recreational is a little more complicated.

The state of Michigan currently charges a six percent sales tax on recreational marijuana along with a ten percent excise tax. Barton Morris with Cannabis Legal Group gave us a closer look at how those taxes break down.

“That money does go to the general fund, but it is earmarked for specific projects including schools, roads, but also some of that money is going to go back to the communities in which these facilities are created,” said Morris.

Here’s how Michigan compares to other states that have legalized pot.

Washington has a 37 percent tax, Colorado charges a 15 percent sales and 15 percent excise tax and California charges a 15 percent sales tax, but has recently debated raising it.

“I think the perception is that marijuana can be a significant tax benefit, but we wanted to make sure when writing the ballot proposal language that it was going to go to something with a tangible benefit. We wanted to ensure also that the voters approved that benefit as well so we identified schools of course to be very important also the roads,” said Morris.

And this is how the recreational marijuana tax compares to other products in the state. Cigarettes are taxed at 10 cents a cigarette or $2.00 on a 20 pack. Wine beer and liquor all carry a six percent sales tax and varying excise taxes. Morris says there’s a reason the recreational marijuana tax is set at its current rate.

“We did that because we didn’t want it to be so high that it would preclude people from wanting to go into a store and maybe alternatively go into the black market. So that is a really reasonable rate,” explained Morris.

Source: https://www.9and10news.com/2019/12/09/michigan-based-cannabis-legal-group-breaks-down-recreational-marijuana-taxes/

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