Colorado marijuana taxes heavily outgain alcohol tax in 2014 fiscal year

 

n accounting error in Colorado is paying off for marijuana consumers today, when a quirk in a state tax law prompts the state to suspend most taxes on recreational pot.

The one-time break comes a day after Colorado made final its accounts for the fiscal year that ended in June.

The final tax numbers covered the first full fiscal year in which adults over 21 could legally buy both marijuana and alcohol.

Alcohol excise tax collections were up 2.4 percent, to about $42 million. Marijuana-specific taxes came in at about $70 million.

The figures don’t include the statewide 2.9 percent sales taxes. In other words, alcohol likely still produces more overall tax money than pot, though the state doesn’t keep data on how much general sales tax comes from alcohol.

Recreational pot is taxed much more steeply than alcohol — 25 percent,...

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