Joe Rogan on drug policy: what the evidence says · JRE #1170
SUBJECT: DRUG POLICY
Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.
Right. And that's the only thing that you're seeing where these states are voting for it because they realize there's massive amounts of tax dollars that they can make. I mean, I think Colorado is 39% tax on recreational marijuana.
What the evidence says 01 / RECORD
The claim asserts a 39% tax rate on recreational marijuana in Colorado. Colorado's Department of Revenue documents a 15% state retail marijuana sales tax charged to consumers at the point of sale, plus a separate 15% state excise tax levied earlier in the supply chain on the wholesale transfer from cultivator to retailer or manufacturer; retail marijuana is exempt from the standard 2.9% state sales tax. Local jurisdictions may additionally impose their own marijuana sales and/or excise taxes on top of the state rates. No official Colorado tax schedule sets a 39% rate on recreational marijuana sales, and the documented state-level rates (15% consumer sales tax plus 15% wholesale excise tax at an earlier supply-chain stage) do not sum to or otherwise support the 39% figure cited.