Question

Could we balance the budget by taxing and selling pot? Free college! Better healthcare! They said that about gambling, right. But wait a minute. At what cost? Isn't there a downside to drugs, including pot? If not, why has it been illegal all these years?

Crime is down, way down. Why would anybody want to mess with that? Or is getting high that important to us?

Wow, this is tough stuff isn't it? You can't compare it to tobacco or booze since both are horrible and we wouldn't want to make a decision based on past bad decisions. But are the downsides to pot manageable enough to allow us to consider it for adults only and tax it heavily? What do you think?

Could we balance the budget by taxing and selling pot? Free college! Better healthcare! They said that about gambling, right. But wait a minute. At what cost? Isn't there a downside to drugs, including pot? If not, why has it been illegal all these years?

Crime is down, way down. Why would anybody want to mess with that? Or is getting high that important to us?

Wow, this is tough stuff isn't it? You can't compare it to tobacco or booze since both are horrible and we wouldn't want to make a decision based on past bad decisions. But are the downsides to pot manageable enough to allow us to consider it for adults only and tax it heavily? What do you think?

Answer 1

Budgets are prepared to support the entire system run smooth and grow healthily. The Government will need revenues to feed the economic structure. Hence, it has to rely on the taxes it earns from various avenues. These tax providers include general public, business houses, etc.

The revenues earned, return to the system through various channels like free education facilities, free healthcare facilities, infra development and maintenance,etc.

As like any other commodity or good, marijuana too has its own taxation.Now, marijuana/cannabis/pot have their usage in both medicinal, as well as, addictional pupose. If medicinal-purposed cannabis are heavily taxed, then it can increase cost of certain medicines inadvertantly. But, in case it is heavily taxed on the drugs that are meant for 'entertaining' or addictions, and, allowing to sell pot more in order to generate more tax revenue out of it, the commercial fulfilment of the governemnt will defintely get close; but, the societal responsibility will deteriorate. If cannabis sales are encouraged, it would directly increase the crime rate, damage law and order, increase health complications, exploitations, smuggling, etc. As a result, not only the quality of the society reduces, their would be increased cost elements to deal with these issues too. The government will be spending lot of dollars to contain these issues.

Just by allowing it for adult use, neither would not be sufficient to arrest the cannabis from going into unauthorized channels; and, its sales could nether get controlled or monitored that way. Sooner or later, it will find its way in unregulated markets associated with crime world.

Hence, in my view, just to collect more tax for budget, pot selling with high tax rates should not be encouraged. It would give rise to more serious complications which are both qualitatively and quantitatively detrimental to culture, society and economy.

There are more healthy alternatives to balance budget like - exporting more and importing less, increase infrasructure spendings, create more jobs. These factors would enable more money/revenue to flow in, create more capital, have multiplier effect in the economy and reduce expenses.