A New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration report indicates that, with a 15% tax, the state could expect $58 million in tax revenue from cannabis legalization, the Concord Monitor reports.
The report is based on a variety of estimations, including other states with reformed cannabis laws and New York’s recent exhaustive report on legalization.
The lower end of tax revenue estimates at 15% is $26.7 million — still impressive, but significantly lower. Several uncertainties — such as the number of potential cannabis users in the state, how much the cannabis might cost, and how much market share could be immediately recovered from the illicit marketplace — contributed to the wide difference between the high and low tax revenue estimates.
The report was prepared for New Hampshire’s Commission to Study the Legalization, Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana, which was tasked by the state with producing a comprehensive roadmap to legalization by November.
The main goal of the Commission is not to determine whether or not cannabis legalization would generate revenue, but rather if it would generate enough to fund the regulations and enforcement it would require. The Commission’s chairman, state Rep. Pat Abrami, said yes.
The bipartisan Commission is stacked with a wide range of state congress representatives, law enforcement personnel, medical groups, and even anti-cannabis advocacy organizations. The Commission received early criticism for including the wide range of opinions on cannabis legalization, with some arguing it would be impossible to get anything done with so much disagreement among the members.
Democratic state Rep. Renny Cushing, a pro-cannabis member of the Commission, however, has lately praised the group.
“I think that they have drilled down on the topic, they have spoken to people from across the country, states that have gone through the process of legalization, regulation, you know, all the questions have been raised. And it’s been open.” — Rep. Renny Cushing, via the Concord Monitor
The panel has two more meetings left before it must vote on a final report.