The debate to legalize marijuana is one of the more
polarizing debates in the country, rubbing elbows with the likes of gun-control
and abortion. While most of the debate points that the pro-pot crowd uses are
both solid and valid, their point that the tax revenue generated from
legalizing marijuana would be overly beneficial to the country is over-reaching
at best, and a flat-out lie at worst.
Right now, any revenue that flows into the government would
be welcomed. A $16.8T national debt is, frankly speaking, revolting. But anyone
who thinks that there is a quick-fix to that problem is short-sighted. This
includes Harvard professor, Jeffrey Miron. He believes that cannabis willgenerate yearly revenue totals between $6B and $10B. Half of which he believes
will come from tax revenue. The other half would come from not spending money
on prosecuting for marijuana-based offenses.
The problem with that however, is in the math.
Per Global Newswire, legal marijuana sales are projected
to total $2.34B in 2014. Miron projects the “sin tax” to be roughly 50%.
That would mean the tax revenue generated would be $1.17B, which is a far cry
from being half of the $6B-$10B estimate. And you can’t account for illegal
sales because there are no records kept of those amounts.
