The debate surrounding the legalization of marijuana has loomed strongly throughout society since the first state legalized it’s recreational use. The New York Times article regarding the taxation provides an informative insight into the failed or missed projections on what the taxation revenue benefits would reach and affect. Colorado’s estimate of $118 million in revenue was missed by 42% – only generating an estimated $69 million revenue. Although this is a social issue that revolves around several aspects that contribute to the miscalculation of taxation on recreational marijuana revenue, it is also a politically consideration toward the effects on the stakes in legalizing recreational marijuana use.
The New York Times article does provide informative information that does relate to social forces as a cause. Causation is the determination that certain events predictably occur and ultimately lead to a series of other events. Sociologically, this is evident in the cause of lower than expected taxation revenues on recreational marijuana.
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"Sociological Article Review: Marijuana Taxes Won’t Save State Budgets".
We are able to see that sociological relationships between medical, recreational and illegal users of marijuana in relation or connection with politically focused regulation are associated directly with the cause of lower than expected taxation revenues. As the article states,
“A 2014 report commissioned by the state’s Department of Revenue estimated 130 metric tons of marijuana was consumed in the state that year, while just 77 metric tons was sold through medical dispensaries and recreational marijuana retailers. The rest was untaxed: a combination of home growing, production by untaxed medical “caregivers” whose lightly regulated status is protected in the state constitution and plain old black-market production and trafficking,” (Leonhardt, 2015)
This is a direct result of the general tax on costs for marijuana, which for many people with medical marijuana cards is cheaper to maintain their medical marijuana usage. The taxation amounts and prices at marijuana dispensaries is often quite more expensive than on the illegal market, thus we see the numbers in quote above from the NY Times article. The suggestion made in the article to alter taxing on marijuana according to the gram, rather than the general purchase may prove to improve the revenue intake.
All of these factors indicate the social forces as a cause in the instance of taxation not reaching the potential it was originally believed to achieve.
- Leonhardt. (2015). Marijuana Taxes Won’t Save State Budgets. New York Times.web.
Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com
