Friday, July 24, 2009
How many Twinkies will solve California's budget woes?
Here's an interesting piece in Time. Seems Democratic state assemblyman Tom Ammiano has introduced legislation that would let California regulate and tax the sale of marijuana. The state's proposed $50-per-oz. pot tax would bring in about $1.3 billion a year in additional revenue.
An excerpt: ... supporters of legalization may have been handed their most convincing factor yet: the bummer economy. Advocates say that if state or local governments could collect a tax on even a fraction of pot sales, it would help rescue cash-strapped communities. Not surprisingly, the idea is getting traction in California, home to the nation's largest supply of domestically grown marijuana (worth an estimated $14 billion a year) and biggest state budget deficit (more than $26 billion).
I don't care. Smoke as much of the stuff as you want, but it won't make the economic picture look any better.
(Photo by Mike Hutchings / Reuters)
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