June 8th in Accountancy News, Deficit, Economy, International, Tax by Editor .

California Proposes Marijuana Tax To Reduce Deficit

We don’t think Dave and Nick have considered this one yet…

Charles Tyrwhitt UK
 

But if it crops up, we’d imagine it most likely arising from the Liberal side of the coalition. Just a guess.

California, which has a $19bn (£13bn) budget deficit, is considering legalising and taxing marijuana to help ease the problem. There will be a referendum on the idea in local elections to be held in November. Currently it is legal for certain medical conditions with a prescription about which Going Concern comments:

As is, California is pretty loose with the definition of “medical use” and if you’ve ever been to Venice Beach, you already know that pot has been a big business round these parts since Proposition 215 made medicinal use legal. Everyone from depressed shlubs to Mr Magoo-sighted grandmas can head to the cannabis club for their medicine and some smart cities like Oakland already tax these sales.

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The new proposal would allow anyone aged 21 or older to possess, share or transport up to an ounce of cannabis for personal use and grow up to 25 sq ft of the drug. We don’t know much about growing or smoking the stuff (honestly) but 25 sq ft sounds rather a lot; that’s about half your lawn if you live in a terraced house.

By making marijuana possession legal for everyone and then taxing the smoke out of it, it’s believed that California will raise an estimated $1.4 billion in revenue a year.

Out of the box thinking.

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