In the first three months that people could legally buy cannabis in Maryland, customers paid more than $12 million in taxes to the state government.
Customers buying recreational cannabis pay a 9% point-of-sale tax on all flower, edibles, tinctures and other cannabis products, with the money parceled out to a variety of programs.
A new report from Comptroller Brooke Lierman, a Democrat, lays out how the money is coming into the state and where it’s going. Lierman plans to issue reports every three months.
“Transparency is crucial to earning and maintaining the public trust,” Lierman said in a statement, “and my office is committed to helping Marylanders understand what this new part of the economy is generating in taxes.”
Legal cannabis sales for adult use began on July 1, following approval from voters in the 2022 election.
Of the approximately $12.1 million in taxes collected in July, August and September, customers at dispensaries in Central Maryland paid the most: $5.49 million, or 45% of all taxes collected.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Pamela Wood over at The Baltimore Sun
