Tax revenues from legal weed are out beating revenues from booze.
BOSTON — New data from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts shows that marijuana tax revenues have outpaced the revenues generated from the recreational sale of alcoholic sales statewide.
According to the Cannabis Control Commission, excise taxes for marijuana sold for adult recreational use exceed alcohol excise taxes for the first time in Massachusetts history. Marijuana sales note the same data that marijuana sales reached $2.54 billion.
Massachusetts Department of Revenue collected $74.2 million in marijuana excise tax revenue through December 2021. That is halfway through the state’s fiscal year. Compared to alcohol excise tax sales, only $51.3 million was generated in comparison.
“This milestone speaks to the success of licensees that have interacted with the commission from the application stage, maintained compliance with our strict regulations, and contribute every day to communities across the commonwealth,” notes commission executive director Shawn Collins in a statement released in September in 2021, on the occasion of the new data.
“This number also underscores the entire agency’s tireless efforts, particularly those of our hardworking staff, to thoughtfully regulate a safe, accessible, and effective adult-use marketplace that keeps critical tenets of our mission – public health, public safety, and equity, among others – front of mind,” adds Collins.
Recreational cannabis in Massachusetts is taxed at 10.75%. This is also a 6.25% state sales tax, plus a local tax of 3%. It all added to $208 million in total tax revenue in the last fiscal year.
Vivien Azer, a Wall Street research analyst and a managing director at the financial services firm Cowen told local media that the transition from medical to recreational cannabis usually leads to a doubling or tripling of tax revenues virtually “overnight.”
“Not only is the industry growing by migrating current consumers out of the illicit market into the legal market. But you’re also engaging consumers that have probably tried the product once in their lifetime, but then moved away from the category, but now have permission to reengage with the category now that it’s legal,” said Azer, via the original comments sent to WCVB-TV.
