Annotated Bibliography: Marijuana and Taxation

Annotated Bibliography

Cooper, Michael. "Struggling Cities Turn to a Crop for Cash." New York Times. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/us/cities-turn-to-a-crop-for-cash-medical-marijuana.html?_r=0>.

New York Times columnist, Michael Cooper, argues that the remedy to the economic downturn could be in raising taxes for medical marijuana dispensaries in Oakland and other places in California. This proposal is problematic, however, because the proposed tax hike would not be the first there is. Marijuana dispensaries have already paid $1.4 million in taxes in 2011 which is almost 3 percent of all the business taxes the city collected. Now that Oakland plans to double the number of dispensaries and potentially raise the taxes, it stands to generate a lot more much-needed revenue. This article allows Oakland to serve as a case study for the type of scenario in which tax revenue generation for marijuana would work well.

Easton, Stephon. "Legalize Marijuana for Tax Revenue." Bloomberg BusinessWeek. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2013. <http://www.businessweek.com/debateroom/archives/2010/03/legalize_mariju.html>.

According to a 2010 study from Cato Institute, legalizing marijuana would be a very sound economical move on the part of state and local government. Not only would legalizing marijuana generate $8.7 billion in federal and state tax revenue annually, it would also generate income and sales tax as two additional revenue streams to come directly from those who produce pot and are currently not paying any income or sales tax on the product they produce and sell under the radar and without regulations. This article provides a review of an academic, peer-review source and up-to-date analysis of the issues.

Fairchild, Caroline. "Legalizing Marijuana Would Generate Billions In Additional Tax Revenue Annually." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 20 Apr. 2013. Web. 9 Nov. 2013. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/20/legalizing-marijuana-tax-revenue_n_3102003.html>.

Caroline Fairchild’s article argues that state and local governments could generate billions in tax revenue through legalizing marijuana. State and local governments spend billions of dollars enforcing their drug enforcement policies. Law officials are overwhelmed when it comes to enforcing these laws in their state and shutting down the intricate networks of producers, buyers, and sellers that seem to keep the system running no matter what. State and federal governments will save billions that are currently spent regulating marijuana use and make billions in various tax policies.

Miron, Jeffery A., and Waldock, Katherine. “The Budgetary Impact of Ending Drug Prohibition.” (2010). Cato Institute. EBSCO. 10 Nov 2013.

This article provides very compelling statistics and facts about the budgetary impact of ending marijuana prohibition. Researchers reference the national debt which was 60 percent of the GDP in 2010 and is projected to be 75 percent higher in 2020. Politicians and the public worry about the debt but proposals to legalize marijuana are hard to embrace.