Washington, DC: Legal cannabis markets generated an estimated $2.8 million in excise taxes in fiscal year 2022 (July 2021 to June 2022), according to an analysis provided by The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.
Regulators in California collected the largest amount of excise tax revenue ($774 million) while regulators in Alaska collected the least ($30 million).
In the two states with the most mature adult-use cannabis markets – Colorado and Washington – cannabis excise tax revenues outpaced those collected on the sale of alcohol and tobacco. “Broadly speaking, the experience of Colorado and Washington demonstrate that a state can collect a significant amount of revenue from marijuana taxes and that collection should mostly increase over time,” the report’s authors wrote.
The Center’s analysis did not tabulate additional revenues generated from state sales taxes and/or locally imposed taxes on cannabis products.
An analysis provided in April by the Marijuana Policy Project estimated that total tax revenues derived from the licensed retail sale of state-legal, adult-use cannabis products grew by more than 30 percent between 2020 and 2021, totaling over $3.7 billion last year.
The full text of the report is available online here. Additional information is available from NORML’s fact sheet, ‘Marijuana Regulation: Impact on Health, Safety, Economy.’
Source: NORML – make a donation