Best Marijuana Taxes Yet: California's Proposition 64

5 Pages Posted: 7 Oct 2016 Last revised: 15 Oct 2016

Date Written: October 6, 2016

Abstract

Two devastating traps threaten taxes on newly legalized marijuana.

One is the quicksand of inflexibility, leading to impotence during a whirlwind of market change. Static laws and price-based taxes lead into that trap.

The trap other is playing favorites by favoring medical users, opening an abyss of tax evasion by recreational users pretending to be sick.

California’s Proposition 64, on the ballot in November, avoids those traps better than the marijuana initiatives in Arizona, Massachusetts, Maine, and Nevada.

It takes lessons from failed initiatives in California, Ohio, and Oregon, and laws on the books in Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington.

Keywords: Tax, Excise, Marijuana

JEL Classification: H2

Suggested Citation

Oglesby, Pat, Best Marijuana Taxes Yet: California's Proposition 64 (October 6, 2016). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2848932 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2848932

Pat Oglesby (Contact Author)

Center for New Revenue ( email )

1830 North Lakeshore Drive
Chapel Hill, NC 27514

HOME PAGE: http://www.newrevenue.org

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