Word: californianess
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...supporters of legalization may have been handed their most convincing factor yet: the bummer economy. Advocates say that if state or local governments could collect a tax on even a fraction of pot sales, it would help rescue cash-strapped communities. Not surprisingly, the idea is getting traction in California, home to the nation's largest supply of domestically grown marijuana (worth an estimated $14 billion a year) and biggest state budget deficit (more than $26 billion...
...July 20, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and California legislative leaders reached a tentative budget agreement to plug the state's deficit, but it would involve making sweeping cuts in education and health services as well as taking billions from county governments. Democratic state assemblyman Tom Ammiano has introduced legislation that would let California regulate and tax the sale of marijuana. The state's proposed $50-per-oz. pot tax would bring in about $1.3 billion a year in additional revenue. Ammiano's bill was shelved this session, but he expects to introduce a revised bill early next year. (See TIME...
...state legislature doesn"t act, perhaps California voters will. One group is preparing to place a statewide initiative for the November 2010 ballot that would regulate and tax the sale of marijuana for Californians 21 years of age and older. Tellingly, the group spearheading the measure calls itself TaxCannabis2010.org, stressing the revenue advantages of marijuana legalization. The group hopes to collect the required 650,000 voter signatures by January to place the measure on the ballot...
...Drug Policy Alliance, which promotes alternatives to the war on drugs. "The discussion about regulating and taxing marijuana now has an air of legitimacy to it that it didn"t quite have before. And the economy has given the issue a real turbo-charge." (Read "Can Marijuana Help Rescue California's Economy...
...Gist: Kudos to California! On July 20, the Golden State finally cobbled together a plan to bridge its $26.3 billion budget gap, leaving North Carolina, Connecticut and Pennsylvania as the only states that have not yet reached an agreement. But before lawmakers start slapping backs, they should know that next year's budget crunch could be even tighter. Thanks to dwindling revenues, paltry collection rates and the economic storm soaking taxpayers, the $142.6 billion budget shortfall that states faced during the 2009 fiscal year is but one hurdle in a longer financial gauntlet, according to this bleak assessment from...