By Steve Elliott
Hemp News
One year after Colorado became the first state to allow recreational marijuana, millions of tax dollars are rolling in, just as predicted. The funds were supposed to be dedicated to school construction, along with regulating cannabis sales, but a legal complication may force the state to refund that money to the public -- and lawmakers don't want that to happen.
A strict anti-spending provision in the Colorado Constitution -- a voter-approved measure called the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights -- may require the state to refund nearly $60 million in marijuana taxes, reports Jack Healy at The New York Times.
Legislators are trying to figure out a way to keep the money, and they're hoping Colorado voters will let them. Republicans and Democrats in the Colorado Legislature don't agree very often when it comes to taxes, but it seems both parties agree they want to keep the cash, and legislators are working on a bill which would ask voters' permission to not give the money back.
"Despite our anti-tax feelings in the state, there's an exception being made when it comes to marijuana," said Michael Elliott, executive director of the Marijuana Industry Group, a Denver-based trade organization that isn't taking a stand on the refund issue. "The industry is making a huge economic impact."