Pubdate: Fri, 19 Sep 2014
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2014 the Associated Press
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Rachel La Corte, the Associated Press
Page: B2

MILLIONS EXPECTED IN STATE POT TAXES INTO MID-2019

Council Warns Projections Could Change

Won't Fill Budget Gap

OLYMPIA (AP) - The state's legal recreational marijuana market is 
expected to bring in about $636 million in taxes to state coffers 
through the middle of 2019, according to an economic forecast 
released Thursday.

The forecast by the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council showed that 
just over $25 million from a variety of marijuana-related taxes - 
including excise, sales, and business taxes - is expected to be 
collected through the middle of next year. An additional $207 million 
is expected for the next two-year budget that ends mid-2017. And $404 
million is expected for the 2017-19 budget biennium.

The passage of Initiative 502 in 2012 allowed the sale of marijuana 
to adults for recreational use at licensed stores, which started 
opening this summer.

So far the state has issued 57 retail marijuana licenses. By early 
this month, 32 of the shops had opened. The state Liquor Control 
Board reported this week that total sales of recreational marijuana 
through Monday totaled just over $14 million, with the state 
receiving $3.5 million in excise taxes.

Steve Lerch, the revenue council's executive director, noted that the 
latest forecast changed previous outlooks that assumed sales wouldn't 
start until next year because of concerns about local moratoriums, 
bans on pot sales and general uncertainty about how the system would work.

He warned that the market is still developing, and the numbers will 
continue to change in future forecasts.

"There is so much we don't know about what these sales are going to 
look like," he said.

The overall updated forecast for Washington state's current two-year 
nearly $34 billion budget cycle shows that lawmakers may have about 
$169 million more available to them through the middle of 2015, and 
that they'll have an additional $143 million than additionally 
projected for the 2015-2017 biennium.

The projected overall state budget for 2015-17 is expected to be $36.7 billion.

Lawmakers will return to the Capitol in January for a 105-day 
legislative session with a state Supreme Court contempt order hanging 
over their heads for their lack of progress on fixing the way the 
state pays for public education.

The court has promised to reconvene and impose sanctions and other 
remedial measures if lawmakers do not make plans to solve the problem 
by the end of that session.

Without including education measures in the so-called McCleary 
decision, the projected shortfall for the next spending period is 
nearly $1 billion. To satisfy the court, that deficit could be up to 
$3 billion for the 2015-17 biennium.

David Schumacher, director of the Office of Financial Management, 
said that with the approaching budget challenges, the money raised by 
marijuana isn't very much.

"But any money is helpful," he said.

The next revenue forecast is scheduled for Nov. 19.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom