Many people know Las Vegas, Nevada as The Entertainment Capital of the World and the state is officially cashing in on legal cannabis. Even though medical cannabis was legalized in Nevada about 18 years ago, because of the vaguely worded language of the original bill that was passed, legal sales of medical cannabis was blocked until 2013, which made medical cannabis patients to start producing their own marijuana– about 12 plants for each person – or look for other means. However, on November 8th, 2016, residents in happily voted for the legalization of cannabis, which made the state of Nevada to become the 6th U.S. state to legalize recreational cannabis after the District of Columbia. On July 1st, 2017, the sales of recreational marijuana began in Nevada.
Since the legalization of recreational cannabis in Nevada, the total tax revenue that has been produced for the state has surpassed all expectations. Governor Sandoval had previously forecasted a potential tax revenue of 60 million dollars in the first two years of legalization. Currently, the amounts have been recorded, and truth be told, the tax revenue of 2017-2018 generated by the State of Nevada on the joined sales of medical and recreational cannabis summed up to $70 million dollars.
The taxation of Cannabis can be separated into two unique parts: wholesale tax why is meant for wholesale cannabis retailers and dispensaries up front, and retail tax which is paid by the consumer. A 2017 press release, stated that the Department of Taxation of the State of Nevada forecasted that revenue from tax resulted to only the 15% tax on wholesale transactions including medical and recreational marijuana was “forecasted to generate 56.2 million dollars over the next two years,” on the other hand, the 10% retail tax was forecasted to produce $63.5 million” over the same time frame. Additional license and application fees were also forecasted to produce significant revenue for Nevada state. The government collected over 5 million dollars for application and licensing fees during the first few months of legalizing recreational marijuana in Nevada.
The state of Nevada has generated considerable amounts of tax revenue from the sale of marijuana, and the revenue generated is used for public programs that are beneficial to each citizen in Nevada. The legislation that was made to legalize recreational cannabis in Nevada stated that income originating from recreational and medical marijuana sales would be placed to the Distributive State Account of the state, meant explicitly for funding public education. The Councilwoman of the city of Las Vegas Lois Tarkanian, a marijuana critic, has condemned the method of offering funds to public schools, stating that she wants to ensure that its diverted towards education…if its placed in the rainy-day fund, which is usually a dark cellar, then whereabouts of the funds become unknown. The Assemblywoman of Nevada Dina Neal stated that about 64 million dollars in the rainy-day fund of the state had been signaled for public education. The State Senator of Nevada Tick Segerblom, who is otherwise called Nevada’s “godfather of pot,” wants Governor Sandoval to summon a special session to finalize the issue entirely.
