Cuomo Forecasts $300M Annually In Legal Weed Taxes

The Buffalo News reports:

Adult recreational use of marijuana will be legalized under a plan advanced today by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo along with the creation of three new taxes – eventually passed on to consumers – that will total $300 million annually.

The Cannabis Regulation and Taxation Act will regulate marijuana from cultivation to retail sales “for the purposes of fostering and promoting temperance in their consumption” and “to promote social equality,’’ according to Cuomo’s budget plan unveiled this afternoon.

Not all the details of the program were immediately released, such as law enforcement strategies to deal with people who drive while high, or precisely how many retail operations will be located in the state. The plan calls for the creation of an Office of Cannabis Management.

Marijuana Moment reports:



“Legalize adult-use cannabis,” Cuomo said in his State of the State speech. “Stop the disproportionate impact on communities of color and let’s create an industry that empowers the poor communities that paid the price and not the rich corporations who come in to make a profit.”

Under the plan, which the governor is including in his annual budget request to lawmakers, marijuana would be legal for adults over the age of 21.

Cuomo is proposing a 20 percent state tax and 2 percent county tax on marijuana transfers from wholesalers to retailers, in addition to a $1 per gram tax on dry flower for cultivators, along with a $0.25 per gram tax on trim. The governor said that legalization “will create the good union jobs that we need.”