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Denver Mayor Michael Hancock's administration is asking the City Council to sign off on a plan to place a city sales tax on recreational marijuana.
There may be merit in such a tax, but first there are many, oh so many, questions that need to be addressed about where the revenue would go.
The proposed sales tax, which would have to be approved by Denver voters in November, would have a floor of 5 percent and could be raised as high as 10 percent if the council later decided more revenue was needed.
The 5 percent tax would generate an estimated $4.8 million a year, which, when combined with the city's existing fees and taxes that would be collected from marijuana retailers, would fund the city's planned $9.3 million budget for pot-related programs and regulation.
A sampling of the budget requests:
- $100,518 for a new lawyer at the city attorney's office "to support the increased caseload" from marijuana prosecutions;
- $1.8 million for additional inspectors and licensing staff in the Excise and Licensing Department;
- $142,401 for more staff in the Community Planning and Development Department for more neighborhood inspection services, building inspections and plan reviews;
- $142,401 for additional park rangers "to monitor compliance with public consumption laws"; and
- $2.6 million for 26 additional police officers to handle "increased call loads and investigations of retail and grow establishments" and to beef up vice and narcotics investigations.
But there are many more proposed expenditures, such as $443,902 for more staff at Denver Health and for a new van to transport marijuana-impaired people. Yes, a "weed wagon."
We agree there could be an increase in marijuana consumption as people who never wanted to visit a doctor to get a medical marijuana card now find they can just walk into a store to buy pot. There will now be out-of-state "pot tourists" as well.
But do these potential increases justify all the requests? In Denver, there is to be a two-year moratorium on new pot retailers as existing medical marijuana dispensaries are allowed to convert to retail establishments. Many may decide to do so, and this might not mean a flood of new businesses to be regulated.
And while pot businesses, legally limited to cash transactions, present a number of public safety concerns, we wonder about the caseload assumptions underlying requests for 26 more police officers, park rangers and a new city attorney.
On top of the potential 5 percent city tax, voters already will be asked in November to approve a 15 percent state excise tax and a 10 percent sales tax. Cumulatively, that's a sizeable tab for taxes.
It is imperative that city officials demonstrate they are not using the potential of a new revenue source to go on a shopping spree in order to backfill city budgets.
News Hawk- Truth Seeker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: denverpost.com
Author: The Denver Post Editorial Board
Contact: Contact Us - The Denver Post
Website: How would Denver pot tax be used? - The Denver Post
There may be merit in such a tax, but first there are many, oh so many, questions that need to be addressed about where the revenue would go.
The proposed sales tax, which would have to be approved by Denver voters in November, would have a floor of 5 percent and could be raised as high as 10 percent if the council later decided more revenue was needed.
The 5 percent tax would generate an estimated $4.8 million a year, which, when combined with the city's existing fees and taxes that would be collected from marijuana retailers, would fund the city's planned $9.3 million budget for pot-related programs and regulation.
A sampling of the budget requests:
- $100,518 for a new lawyer at the city attorney's office "to support the increased caseload" from marijuana prosecutions;
- $1.8 million for additional inspectors and licensing staff in the Excise and Licensing Department;
- $142,401 for more staff in the Community Planning and Development Department for more neighborhood inspection services, building inspections and plan reviews;
- $142,401 for additional park rangers "to monitor compliance with public consumption laws"; and
- $2.6 million for 26 additional police officers to handle "increased call loads and investigations of retail and grow establishments" and to beef up vice and narcotics investigations.
But there are many more proposed expenditures, such as $443,902 for more staff at Denver Health and for a new van to transport marijuana-impaired people. Yes, a "weed wagon."
We agree there could be an increase in marijuana consumption as people who never wanted to visit a doctor to get a medical marijuana card now find they can just walk into a store to buy pot. There will now be out-of-state "pot tourists" as well.
But do these potential increases justify all the requests? In Denver, there is to be a two-year moratorium on new pot retailers as existing medical marijuana dispensaries are allowed to convert to retail establishments. Many may decide to do so, and this might not mean a flood of new businesses to be regulated.
And while pot businesses, legally limited to cash transactions, present a number of public safety concerns, we wonder about the caseload assumptions underlying requests for 26 more police officers, park rangers and a new city attorney.
On top of the potential 5 percent city tax, voters already will be asked in November to approve a 15 percent state excise tax and a 10 percent sales tax. Cumulatively, that's a sizeable tab for taxes.
It is imperative that city officials demonstrate they are not using the potential of a new revenue source to go on a shopping spree in order to backfill city budgets.
News Hawk- Truth Seeker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: denverpost.com
Author: The Denver Post Editorial Board
Contact: Contact Us - The Denver Post
Website: How would Denver pot tax be used? - The Denver Post
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