Pubdate: Wed, 12 Mar 2014
Source: Metro (London, CN ON)
Copyright: 2014 Free Daily News Group Inc.
Contact:  http://metronews.ca/London/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5477
Author: Scott Taylor

TAX 'EM IF YOU GOT 'EM

Colorado-Style Cash. Tax From Legal Pot Would Mean $5m Per Month for 
Province, Says London Economist

A London economist says that Colorado has proven what many have been 
saying all along: Legalize marijuana, regulate it and the tax dollars 
will come flowing in.

It's been estimated that in the first month of legalized weed sales, 
the state made a cool $2.1 million in taxes. That's outside of the 
$1.4 million it made taxing medicinal marijuana.

Ivey School associate professor Mike Moffatt said the tax works out 
to about 40 cents for each of Colorado's 5.2 million people.

"Assuming the usage would be similar among Ontario's almost 13 
million people, the tax the government would earn would be around (a) 
lofty $5 million," he said.

That's for a single month, equating to $60 million a year.

"A lot of this tax money is money that would otherwise be going to 
drug dealers and organized crime," Moffatt said. "Instead of 
financing that, why not finance schools and hospital and all the 
things our society needs?"

He cited a Fraser Institute report that stated the federal government 
could realize over a billion dollars a year if pot was legalized.

But London West Conservative MP Ed Holder said he couldn't disagree 
more with the figures. Price, he said, will still create competition 
between the legal outlets and drug dealers.

"That does not go away because it's been legalized," he said. "The 
underground economy does not go away."

Plus, Holder said, he's never known of a situation in which a person 
using hard drugs didn't start off with marijuana.

"If you ask our local (police) chief if he thinks marijuana should be 
legalized, it would be interesting to get his reaction to that. I 
imagine he'd say no. The previous chief said no ... because it leads 
to other things," Holder said. "At what point do you put money ahead 
of principle?"

Hi-Times manager Mike Gin, who's been in the London head shop 
business for 25 years, argued it only makes sense for the government 
to cash in.

"It's a revenue generator, so why lose the money if they can tax it?" 
he asked. "They could regulate it like cigarettes so that people 
under a certain age couldn't buy it."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom