HARTFORD — How to tax recreational marijuana and what to do with the revenue will be debated at the state Capitol Monday as the final piece of legislation regarding the legalization of cannabis receives a public hearing.
The Democrat-backed bill proposes a 9.35 percent sales tax on cannabis and $35 per ounce levy on cannabis flowers and $13.50 per ounce on the rest of the plant. This rate is similar to the 20 percent effective tax rate in Massachusetts, which has already legalized adult recreational use of the drug.
Economists agree that legalizaing recreational marijuana is a chance to protect public health, shape consumer behavior, reduce an illegal market and increase state revenue.
Determined to reverse the impact of the war on drugs, the bill also suggests using the revenue from legalized recreational marijuana to invest in impoverished urban areas, instead of marking the money for general state use.
But opponents of legalization argued that the revenue and other benefits of legalization do not eclipse the social costs.
Republican Rep. Vincent Candelora of North Branford and Sen. Tony Hwang of Fairfield spoke against legalization in a press conference Monday morning. Most, if not all, Republicans in the Connecticut legislature oppose legalization, although Republican caucuses have not done a vote count yet, Candelora and Hwang said. Some Democrats, including Sen. Alex Bergstein of Greenwich, also oppose legalization.
Hwang and Candelora were joined by Susan Klein of Brookfield whose husband was killed in a car accident when an 18-year-old girl, who later admitted...
from News https://www.ctpost.com/politics/article/Taxation-of-recreational-marijuana-debated-at-CT-13803879.php
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