Pubdate: Fri, 10 May 2013
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2013 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: John Ingold
Page: 6A

VOTERS URGED TO APPROVE POT TAX

Hickenlooper says the funding is needed to regulate marijuana
sales.

Those who supported marijuana legalization and those who opposed it
sent the same message to Colorado voters on Thursday: Everyone backs
the pot tax.

Speaking separately, people from marijuana advocates to an organizer
of a group concerned about marijuana legalization to the state's
pot-skeptical governor urged voters to approve a tax on recreational
marijuana sales that will be on November's ballot. The tax plan was
put there by Colorado lawmakers as a way to pay for regulations on
recreational marijuana stores.

Both the tax proposal and the regulations were approved on the
legislature's final day Wednesday.

"I'll certainly promote the marijuana question," Gov. John
Hickenlooper said."We need to make sure we have the resources to have
a good regulatory framework to manage this."

What no one on Thursday committed to doing, however, was to put up
money funding a campaign on behalf of the taxes. Mason Tvert - one of
the authors of Amendment 64, the marijuana-legalization initiative
that prompted the legislature's bills on pot-shop regulations and
taxes-said marijuana advocates would vocally support the taxes. He
declined to say, however, whether they would pay for any ad time so
that voters could hear that support.

"We will certainly be voicing our opinion that we support the tax
measure," Tvert said. "I think everyone who wants to see this
regulatory system fully funded has an obligation to voice their support."

The tax measure would place a 15 percent excise tax and an initial 10
percent sales tax on recreational marijuana. The excise tax was
mentioned in Amendment 64. To comply with the Taxpayer's Bill of
Rights, though, it needs to be approved in a separate vote.

Supporters of the taxes say the money is needed to make sure
Colorado's regulatory system succeeds in keeping marijuana out of the
black market and the hands of children.

"There's got to be the taxes," said Diane Carlson, a representative of
the group Smart Colorado, which is concerned about marijuana
legalization's consequences. "That's one of the biggest concerns."

Carlson, though, said there would have to be more discussion in the
group before Smart Colorado could commit to providing funding for a
campaign.
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MAP posted-by: Matt