Gov. Brown Projects Just $643M In Marijuana Taxes For California
SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Jerry Brown is projecting California will raise $643 million in taxes during the first year of recreational marijuana sales through licensed stores.
The figure included in Brown's budget proposal Wednesday is less than the $1 billion in revenue that state experts have previously projected.
State officials have struggled to project how much money the state would raise after recreational marijuana sales began Jan. 1.
Brown and the Legislature have little say over spending marijuana taxes, which must be spent according to a formula approved by voters in 2016. Brown says the first $135 million will pay back the general fund for costs of building the state bureaucracy to regulate marijuana.
The voter initiative also requires money for research, mitigating the effects of past criminalization and treatment of drug abuse.
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press.