Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Marijuana tax take nearly double expected in Colorado

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 126 posts

Re: Marijuana tax take nearly double expected in Colorado

#111

Post by rancur »

fpgaminer wrote: post #66
AaronFriel wrote: post #34

This is good news and bad news. The funding for schools will be a boon to education in the state, and that's certainly not bad. However, I expect will almost certainly lead to decreased education funding from other revenue sources, and ultimately place education footing on less solid ground for years to come. It was brilliant PR move to earmark the tax revenue for education, there's no doubt about that. It's very har…

Sure, but we didn't earmarking marijuana taxes for education so that we could improve education. Any informed voter would know that. We did it so that we could get uninformed/uneducated voters to pass the legislation. Now, I don't mean "uninformed/uneducated voters" in a negative way. Most voters, even intelligent ones, are classed as uninformed/uneducated when it comes to most topics. Because really, who has time du…

> The schools continue to underpay teachers

they always build brand new multi million dollar schools with fantastic football fields

Re: Marijuana tax take nearly double expected in Colorado

#112

Post by avn2109 »

jqm wrote: post #93
Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Death is inevitable. Cigarettes are addictive - there's a physiological impetus to continue smoking if you're addicted. Marijuana is significantly less addictive, and it takes very little willpower to stop using it during times of hardship.

It's also pretty trivial for smokers to grow a few marijuana plants if disposable income gets low. There goes that tax revenue. Cigarette tobacco on the other hand requires more processing and growing it for personal consumption generally isn't done.

This fact - that weed is not an industrial crop solely amenable to cultivation by industrial agriculture - is one of two major reasons that weed isn't legal and tobacco is.

The other is that grass makes the citizenry less economically productive.

Re: Marijuana tax take nearly double expected in Colorado

#114

Post by jschwartzi »

rancur wrote: post #111
fpgaminer wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but we didn't earmarking marijuana taxes for education so that we could improve education. Any informed voter would know that. We did it so that we could get uninformed/uneducated voters to pass the legislation. Now, I don't mean "uninformed/uneducated voters" in a negative way. Most voters, even intelligent ones, are classed as uninformed/uneducated when it comes to most topics. Because really, who has time du…

> The schools continue to underpay teachers they always build brand new multi million dollar schools with fantastic football fields

In my state, these kinds of expenditures are funded through district bonds which are a one-shot property tax increase for a set period of time, whereas teacher salaries and other yearly expenditures are funded through levies which have to be periodically increased to keep pace. Additionally, whenever we pass referenda to bump the base pay for educators, the state legislature is very very quick to turn them into unfunded mandates. It's not an issue with the districts or the voters, it's fundamentally a problem with the legislature and how they earmark funding.

Re: Marijuana tax take nearly double expected in Colorado

#115

Post by justinator »

Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #110
gregpilling wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use marijuana as a pain killer alternative to opiate based pills. I can not stop using it, I have a chronic pain condition. My consumption exceeds the top 10 of my friends casual use. I don't think marijuana revenue will decline as much as you do.

I would think that your anecdotal evidence wouldn't map to the actual circumstances very well. A strong majority of marijuana users in Colorado are recreational, and they can give it up without any physical consequences like you would face if they had to deal with difficult financial times.

According to [0], $326,716,273.59 sales were made for medical marijuana, $246,810,599.03 sales were made for recreational marijuana. Recreational marijuana is also a little less than 30% more expensive. [1]

I guess that means that more pot is being sold with a medicinal marijuana card than recreational. Or, did you have other numbers?

[0] http://www.thecannabist.co/2014/12/26/pot-sales-taxes-statis...

[1] https://www.coloradopotguide.com/colorado-marijuana-blog/201...

Re: Marijuana tax take nearly double expected in Colorado

#116

Post by saryant »

YokoZar wrote: post #100
eru wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't governments have the ability to go into debt for exactly that stabilizing function?

State governments generally do not without some creative accounting. Most states have "balanced budget" requirements, although they're allowed to issue bonds - provided said bonds are specifically earmarked for specific programs, and in some cases approved through a separate process like a referendum.

Some states also have rainy day funds they can tap into if they have an unexpected revenue shortfall.

Re: Marijuana tax take nearly double expected in Colorado

#117

Post by qq66 »

jimbokun wrote: post #101
fpgaminer wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but we didn't earmarking marijuana taxes for education so that we could improve education. Any informed voter would know that. We did it so that we could get uninformed/uneducated voters to pass the legislation. Now, I don't mean "uninformed/uneducated voters" in a negative way. Most voters, even intelligent ones, are classed as uninformed/uneducated when it comes to most topics. Because really, who has time du…

Aren't Bill and Melinda Gates already the Bill and Melinda Gates of education? "Our United States Division works to improve U.S. high school and postsecondary education and support vulnerable children and families in Washington State." http://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do

The Gates Foundation is by far the biggest philanthropic organization in U.S. education, even though the primary focus of the Gates Foundation is global public health.

Re: Marijuana tax take nearly double expected in Colorado

#118

Post by afarrell »

ams6110 wrote: post #102
TrevorJ wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm really curious if this is true, or if there's some correlation =/= causation stuff at play.

Your hunch is correct. Wealthy areas have a demographic that supports education. When kids have stable homes, with parents who care about them and their education, schools do well. When kids move three or four times a year, never know if they are going to eat dinner that night, get beaten or ignored at home, have parents on drugs or in and out of jail, it doesn't matter how much money you pour into the schools.

That sounds like an argument for public boarding schools, which is an idea I totally have never contemplated.

Re: Marijuana tax take nearly double expected in Colorado

#119

Post by wingerlang »

SEJeff wrote: post #88

I've always thought that the biggest win of legalizing marijuana is simply that it keeps a lot of the low level thugs off of the street. You know, the run of the mill thugs who might or might not lace the marijuana with cocaine or something worse to keep users coming back? If it is legal to get those thugs will have to shift to the harder stuff which pushes them more underground and off of the most common streets. Th…

> ...run of the mill thugs who might or might not lace the marijuana with cocaine or something worse to keep users coming back?

Has this ever ever happened?

Re: Marijuana tax take nearly double expected in Colorado

#120

Post by Sir_Cmpwn »

justinator wrote: post #115
Sir_Cmpwn wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would think that your anecdotal evidence wouldn't map to the actual circumstances very well. A strong majority of marijuana users in Colorado are recreational, and they can give it up without any physical consequences like you would face if they had to deal with difficult financial times.

According to [0], $326,716,273.59 sales were made for medical marijuana, $246,810,599.03 sales were made for recreational marijuana. Recreational marijuana is also a little less than 30% more expensive. [1] I guess that means that more pot is being sold with a medicinal marijuana card than recreational. Or, did you have other numbers? [0] http://www.thecannabist.co/2014/12/26/pot-sales-taxes-statis... [1] https://www…

Nope, I don't have different numbers. I retract my point in the face of this evidence.
Post reply on HN