A report from the ACLU of New Jersey calls for phasing in marijuana tax rates, stepping rates up from 5 percent in the first year to 25 percent eventually. It follows phase-in proposals by Congressman Earl Blumenauer and others, and a law on the books in Pueblo, Colorado, described here.
This phase-in makes sense. The legal market can bear more tax as time goes on. Startup costs and uncertainties put the nascent legal market at a disadvantage that will fade over time, especially as enforcement of the new legal set-up takes effect.
