Pubdate: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 Source: Denver Post (CO) Copyright: 2014 The Denver Post Corp Contact: http://www.denverpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122 Author: John Ingold Pot Taxes in One Month: $2m COLORADO SALES TAX ON RETAIL MARIJUANA STILL BELOW ESTIMATE Colorado collected slightly more than $2 million in taxes on the sale of recreational marijuana in the month of January, according to new figures released by the state Monday. The numbers are the first official tally of the historic January sales, themselves a nationwide first. If the figures remain at that pace, sales and tax revenues would fall below previous estimates of what Colorado could reap from the sale of marijuana. In January, Colorado collected $1.4 million from a special 10 percent sales tax on recreational marijuana, plus another $416,690 from the state's standard 2.9 percent sales tax, according to a news release Monday from the Colorado Department of Revenue. Extrapolating from those figures, recreational marijuana businesses did slightly more than $14 million in retail sales during the month. Most of the tax revenue came from stores in Denver, and the city reported it collected $616,282 in local sales taxes from recreational marijuana sales in January. In addition, the state will share $128,586 with the city from statewide collections. Recreational marijuana businesses paid $195,318 in excise tax during January, which will be put toward school construction. In total, 59 recreational marijuana businesses filed returns in January. Both Gov. John Hickenlooper's budget office and legislative analysts have predicted recreational sales for the first six months of 2014 would top $190 million. The industry's swelling ranks - plus a state rule that exempted some early marijuana transfers from excise tax-mean monthly tax totals may rise as the year goes on. Barbara Brohl, head of the state Department of Revenue, said it could be April before collections stabilize. "We expect clear revenue patterns will emerge by April and plan to incorporate this data into future forecasts," she said in a statement. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom