{"id":7590,"date":"2017-07-19T14:23:52","date_gmt":"2017-07-19T14:23:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/?p=2721107"},"modified":"2017-07-19T14:23:52","modified_gmt":"2017-07-19T14:23:52","slug":"major-milestone-colorado-hits-half-a-billion-in-cannabis-tax-revenue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/major-milestone-colorado-hits-half-a-billion-in-cannabis-tax-revenue\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Major milestone\u2019: Colorado hits half a billion in cannabis tax revenue"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/major-milestone-colorado-hits-half-a-billion-in-cannabis-tax-revenue\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"large-10 large-centered small-12 columns\">\n<div class=\"entry-meta-date\">Published: Jul 19, 2017, 7:54 am \u2022 Updated: Jul 19, 2017, 8:14 am<span class=\"single-comments-link\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"byline\">By <span class=\"author\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/author\/awallace\/\" rel=\"author\">Alicia Wallace<\/a><\/span><em>, The Cannabist Staff<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Marijuana advocates are trumpeting a Colorado milestone: More than $500 million in revenue for the state since recreational cannabis sales started in 2014.<\/p>\n<p>The medical and recreational cannabis tax revenue benchmark \u2014 achieved in May 2017 \u2014 was hailed Wednesday in a new report from VS Strategies, the new public affairs and lobbying firm affiliated with cannabis law firm Vicente Sederberg.<\/p>\n<p>The report highlights <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colorado.gov\/pacific\/revenue\/colorado-marijuana-tax-data\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">publicly available marijuana tax data<\/a> from the Colorado Department of Revenue as well as how some of those funds have been spent or allocated on both the state and local levels.<\/p>\n<p>VS Strategies is expected to host a news conference at noon today to discuss the \u201cmajor milestone.\u201d Scheduled speakers include Rep. Jonathan Singer, D-Longmont, who sponsored a few marijuana-related bills in this past legislative session; Lauren Arnold, chief executive of Adoption Exchange; and industry members, VS Strategies officials said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2017\/07\/13\/colorado-marijuana-sales-statistics-may-2017\/83627\/\">Through May 2017<\/a>, Colorado marijuana shops have sold upward of $3.6 billion of medical and recreational cannabis flower, edibles and concentrates, according to The Cannabist\u2019s calculations of state tax data.<\/p>\n<p>The taxes and fees from those sales totaled $76 million in 2014, $135 million in 2015, $198 million in 2016, and $96 million through May of 2017, according to Colorado tax data.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colorado.gov\/pacific\/sites\/default\/files\/16-04%20Distribution%20of%20Marijuana%20Tax%20Revenue%20Updated_2.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">That money is distributed to<\/a> a host of different areas, including school construction grants, substance abuse programs; marijuana enforcement; and youth mentoring services.<\/p>\n<p>Economists, notably Chris Stiffler of the Colorado Fiscal Institute, have <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2016\/08\/17\/pot-taxes-state-budgets\/61195\/\">frequently cautioned<\/a> that marijuana tax collections represent a sliver of the state\u2019s $10 billion general fund and cannot solve perennial budget woes.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/2016\/12\/22\/marijuana-sales-pot-taxes-colorado-estimates-projections\/69831\/\">Economists and state budget officials are anticipating<\/a> that marijuana industry sales will continue to grow, but eventually plateau.<\/p>\n<p><em>This story is developing and will be updated.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-meta-author\">\n<div class=\"authorimage\"><a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thecannabist.co\/author\/awallace\/\" rel=\"author\"><img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/major-milestone-colorado-hits-half-a-billion-in-cannabis-tax-revenue.jpg\" class=\"authormug\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<p class=\"author-desc\">Alicia Wallace joined The Cannabist in July 2016, covering national marijuana policy and business. In her 14 years as a business news reporter, her coverage has spanned topics such as the economy, natural foods, airlines, biotech, retail,&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .row --> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>Marijuana advocates are trumpeting a Colorado milestone: More than $500 million in revenue for the state since recreational cannabis sales started in 2014. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5062,6811,77,5577,6858,6822,9,5019,1,3,61,1736],"tags":[5063,6816,2655,5580,6860,6824,5022],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7590"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7590\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}