Pennsylvania governor proposes taxes on pot — but no legalization legislation

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro on Tuesday unveiled his state budget proposal, which included a plan to impose a tax on marijuana sales.

Selling cannabis is still illegal, particularly in Pennsylvania.

But Shapiro’s proposal is a nod to a weed-friendly facility in Keystone State.

The first-term governor’s budget “proposes a cannabis tax for adult use that would be levied on the wholesale price of products sold after legalization within the regulated framework of the production and sale system.”

“The proposed rate is 20 percent of the wholesale price of cannabis products sold through the regulated framework,” the budget reads.

The proposal includes an estimate that “sales would begin on January 1, 2025, with first revenue realized in 2024-25.”

But as the Philadelphia Inquirer noted, Shapiro’s budget “includes no proposed policy changes in the budget.”

According to the Inquirer, Shapiro’s “proposal includes estimates that assume adult sales would begin in January 2025 and generate about $16 million in tax revenue that year… [and] Tax income [would] Increasing to $64.1 million in 2026, $132.6 million in 2027 and $188.8 million in 2028.”

Shaprio, who was elected governor last year, and other Pennsylvania Democrats have announced plans to legalize marijuana in the state.

“Legalize marijuana. regulate it. Tax it,” Shapiro said on Twitter in 2021.

He also stressed the importance of any new cannabis law including social justice provisions to right past wrongs of the drug war.

“But let me be clear: Legalization must include the deletion of those who are in prison or serving time for possessing small amounts of marijuana,” Shapiro continued in the tweet. “Our Black & Brown communities have been disproportionately affected by this for far too long.”

Two Pennsylvania lawmakers filed a memo earlier this year expressing their desire to pass legislation legalizing cannabis this year.

“It’s time to regulate and tax this important crop in the service of the health and welfare of the people of Pennsylvania,” House Representatives Dan Frankel and Donna Bullock, both Democrats, said in the memo, released in January became. “Soon we will introduce legislation to do just that.”

Frankel and Bullock highlighted the ubiquity of cannabis use in Pennsylvania — both through the state’s established medical marijuana program and through the illicit market.

“Pennsylvanians use cannabis,” they wrote in the memo. “Some of this cannabis is legally sold to patients through the medical cannabis program. These products are regulated for safety reasons, and manufacturers bear the cost of administering the program.”

Cannabis is also sold illegally in Pennsylvania,” lawmakers continued. “We have no idea what’s in it, how it was made, or where it came from. We know it’s getting into the hands of young people and we don’t get tax breaks to support our communities; Meanwhile, the enforcement of our cannabis laws hasn’t affected all communities equally—far from it. Although whites and people of color use cannabis at about the same rate, black Pennsylvanians are about 3.5 times more likely to be arrested for cannabis use than their white counterparts, according to Pennsylvania State Police data compiled by NORML.”

They said that their proposal will “create a legal and regulatory framework structured to control and regulate the cultivation, processing, transportation, distribution, supply and retail sale of cannabis and cannabis products, where the following key objectives will be kept in mind: consumer safety; Social justice; Economic Justice; prevention of substance use disorders; Revenue.”

But prospects for legalization in Pennsylvania remain unclear.

“Since late last year, several lawmakers have filed memos on legalization proposals that provide an idea of ​​what a market for adult use might look like — although it’s unclear if or when legalization legislation will be passed,” the Inquirer reported.