Pubdate: Wed, 06 Dec 2017
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2017 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/wEtbT4yU
Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: Armina Ligaya
Page: FP4

TOO MUCH, TOO LITTLE, JUST RIGHT

HOW - AND HOW MUCH - TO TAX MARIJUANA

For the owner of Uncle Ike's, one of the biggest marijuana shops in
Seattle, the teenagers who come through his legal storefront to score
weed are some of the clearest indicators the black market is on the
wane.

"Underage kids try to sneak into our store with fake IDs from the
local high schools," says Ian Eisenberg. "Because there is no pot
being sold at the local high schools anymore."

Stamping out the illicit market is one of Ottawa's major goals as the
country approaches a July 2018 deadline for the legalization of
recreational marijuana - leaving politicians little time to lay out
exactly how to sell, price and tax cannabis.

As Washington, which legalized recreational sales in 2014, has
learned, pricing and taxation can heavily influence whether the black
market blooms or shrivels.

The state originally levied a 25-per-cent tax on producer sales to
processors, another 25 per cent tax on processor sales to retailers,
and a further 25 per cent tax on retail sales to customers.

The high consumer costs, combined with a shortage of legal cannabis,
fuelled the black market, according to analysts.

With that in mind, the government replaced that system with a combined
37 per cent excise tax on the marijuana sales price, but the question
of whether this is helping to eliminate illicit sales is up in the air
in the still-nascent sector.

U. S. states that have already legalized recreational pot sales - such
as Washington, which has an estimated effective tax rate of 50 per
cent, and Alaska, where the rate is closer to 20 per cent - are some
of the few jurisdictions that can offer history lessons, albeit short
and unfinished ones, on how to navigate such complex issues.

Canada's proposal seems to have landed on a pricing middle
ground.

Liberal MP Bill Blair, Ottawa's point man on pot reform, pitched the
government's f ederal tax scheme last month.

His proposal would impose an excise tax of the higher of $ 1 per gram
or 10 per cent of the final retail price - on top of other levies,
such as federal and provincial sales tax.

Ottawa's proposed tax regime so far (not accounting for
municipalities) works out to a 23 per cent total tax on cannabis in
Ontario if incorporating the 13 per cent HST.

However, it would be cheaper in provinces with just five-percent GST,
such as Alberta. But the rate could be as high as 25 per cent in New
Brunswick and other provinces with a 15 per cent GST rate.

Governments still have much to learn and there is little available
evidence on which to base policies, says Beau Kilmer, the co-director
of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center in California, where sales of
recreational marijuana are set to begin on January 1.

"Nobody knows the best way to tax, and we're going to learn more from
other jurisdictions and we're also learning more about the plant."

The policy goals - including stamping out the black market, reducing
underage consumption or drumming up tax revenue - are often at odds
with each other.

The best way to drive out illicit sales is to flood the market with a
tremendous amount of legal cannabis and little regulation in order to
push the price down and lure consumers away from their current
dealers, says Kilmer.

But there's a catch: doing so could encourage consumption,
particularly among younger users who are very price-sensitive, he adds.

Canada's federal task force on the legalization of recreational
marijuana considered how to strike that balance before issuing its
recommendations last December.

"Taxes should be high enough to limit the growth of consumption, but
low enough to compete effectively with the illicit market," members
said in a report.

It is important to keep the tax rate low, if not very low, at the
outset, says Sam Kamin, professor of marijuana law and policy at the
University of Denver.

"What you're trying to do is make the legal regulated product
immediately attractive," he says.

"There will probably be initial scarcity, so prices are going to be
high, regardless. And if you drive that up with high taxes as well,
which tacks on cost, you're going to serve a triple whammy of
unattractiveness."

Legal cannabis that is more costly than that purchased from the
neighbourhood dealer reinforces the price advantage of the black
market, according to Fitch Ratings analysts Stephen Walsh and Karen
Ribble.

"This dynamic has already been experienced in several states,
including Colorado, Washington and Oregon, all of which have taken
steps following legalization to address black market competition
through reductions of initially uncompetitive tax rates," the authors
wrote in an October special report.

Those examples show how it is key to build in flexibility to raise or
change marijuana policy in the future, Kilmer says.

In addition to the level of taxation, politicians must also consider
how to apply the tax rate.

Blair's proposal involves taxing cannabis based on weight, in contrast
to the task force's recommendation to base prices on potency in order
to discourage the purchase of stronger drugs.

While it is easier to apply weight-based tax, doing so could nudge
people toward stronger weed, says Kilmer.

There is little research, at this point, about the health consequences
of smoking higher-potency bud, he adds.
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MAP posted-by: Matt