Legalizing Pot Could Bring Millions In Tax Revenue To NY [POLL]

What if there were a way to bring an additional $436 million in tax revenue to New York, in addition to $336 million in tax revenue for New York City? According to a study by New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer, all it would take would be legalizing the use of marijuana for adults.

Stringer’s study estimated the potential market for marijuana in the state would be about $3.1 billion.

He applied tax rates in line with other states to come up with the $436 million estimate — funds Stringer said that could be used to invest in communities hurt by years of criminalizing pot usage and possession.

But Stringer said it was not just about the revenue.

“It’s about justice. Not only is marijuana an untapped revenue source for the city and the state, but the prosecution of marijuana-related crimes has had a devastating and disproportionate impact on black and Hispanic communities for far too long,” he said.

Stringer estimates the size of the potential market in New York State to be twice as large as Colorado, which has had legalized pot since 2014.

To come up with the potential state tax revenues of $436 million, Stringer considered the state’s existing taxes for medical marijuana and the established excise taxes on things like cigarettes, beer and liquor.

The NYC comptroller isn't the only politician thinking along the legalization lines.

A bill was introduced in Albany in 2018 — the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act — by Sen. Liz Krueger, D-Manhattan, and Assemblywoman Crystal D. Peoples-Stokes, D-Buffalo, that would legalize adult possession and create a process to reclassify past convictions related to marijuana.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, said in April he plans to introduce a bill that would decriminalize marijuana at the federal level.

That conflicts, however, with actions taken by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who, in January, just days after pot stores opened for business in California, rescinded a policy created by President Barack Obama that said the government wouldn’t interfere with states that decided to legalize marijuana.

Two New York City district attorneys, Cyrus R. Vance Jr. in Manhattan and Eric Gonzlez in Brooklyn, have either already decreased the number of pot smoking cases or will stop prosecuting smoking and possession arrests.

And public opinion is also changing on the issue.

In a cleverly titled article in website The Hill — “Poll: Support for legal marijuana hits all-time high” — a Quinnipiac University poll said that support for legalization has reached 63 percent, which is the most amount of support Quinnipiac has ever found.

So take our unscientific poll and tell us what you think. Feel free to expand on your reasons in the comments below.