DENVER (AP) — Colorado made roughly $2 million in
marijuana taxes in January, state revenue officials reported Monday in
the world’s first accounting of the recreational pot business.
The
tax total reported by the state Department of Revenue indicates $14.02
million worth of recreational pot was sold from 59 businesses. The state
collected roughly $2.01 million in taxes.
Colorado legalized pot
in 2012, but the commercial sale of marijuana didn’t begin until
January. Washington state sales begin in coming months.
The pot
taxes come from 12.9 percent sales taxes and 15 percent excise taxes.
Including licensing fees and taxes from Colorado’s pre-existing medical
marijuana industry, the state collected about $3.5 million from the
marijuana industry in January.
That’s a relative drop in the
bucket for Colorado’s roughly $20 billion annual budget, but still a
windfall that has numerous interests holding out their hands. By
comparison, Colorado made about $2.7 million in liquor excise taxes in
January of last year. Statewide liquor receipts for January 2014 were
not yet available Monday.
Colorado tax officials say the January
marijuana reports were in line with expectations, though they repeatedly
said before the figures were reported that they couldn’t guess what tax
receipts would be.
Monday’s tax release intensified lobbying over
how Colorado should spend its pot money. Budget-writers expect the
nascent marijuana industry to be extremely volatile for several years,
making lawmakers nervous about where to direct the funds.
Gov.
John Hickenlooper already has sent the Legislature a detailed $134
million proposal for spending recreational and medical marijuana money,
including new spending on anti-drug messaging to kids and more
advertising discouraging driving while high.
State police chiefs have asked for more money, too.
"The
whole world wants to belly up to this trough," said Sen. Pat Steadman, a
Denver Democrat who serves on Colorado’s budget-writing Joint Budget
Committee.
Other countries also are watching Colorado, which has
the world’s first fully regulated recreational marijuana market. The
Netherlands has legal sales of pot but does not allow growing or
distribution. Uruguay’s marijuana program is still under development.
"Colorado’s
going to help the nation learn what works and what doesn’t," said Pat
Oglesby, a former congressional tax staffer who now studies marijuana’s
tax potential at the Chapel Hill, N.C., Center for New Revenue.
Colorado
has about 160 state-licensed recreational marijuana stores, though
local licensing kept some from opening in January. Only 24 recreational
pot shops opened Jan. 1.
Oglesby said Colorado’s pot sales could
grow dramatically in future months as new stores open and marijuana
sellers pay more wholesale taxes. Marijuana sellers were allowed a
one-time tax-free transfer of medical pot inventory to the recreational
market, a caveat that depressed January wholesale tax results.
Colorado’s
pot revenue picture is further complicated by the state’s unique budget
constraints, known as the Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights.
The Bill of
Rights not only requires voter approval for tax increases, it limits
budget-writers when those taxes earn more than the figure posed to
voters. Last year’s pot vote guessed that the taxes would produce $70
million a year, and it’s unclear what lawmakers can do with tax money
that exceeds that figure.
Colorado’s Joint Budget Committee plans a
Wednesday briefing with lawyers to lay out their options for spending
pot taxes beyond $70 million.
"There probably is a tendency to
want to just grab on to this revenue from marijuana and feed my own pet
projects, and I don’t think it’s going to be that simple," said Sen.
Kent Lambert, R-Colorado Springs and another committee member.
Colorado’s 2014-15 budget is under debate now and does not include any anticipated recreational marijuana
taxes.
Almost
the entire haul from recreational pot came from Denver County, where
the industry is concentrated. The second- and third-largest counties for
medical marijuana, Boulder and El Paso, had no recreational pot shops
operating in January.
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Kristen Wyatt can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/APkristenwyatt
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