Recreational marijuana retail is only four months old in Nevada, but the state and its residents are already reaping the benefits of legal, regulated sales. According to the state’s Department of Taxation, October sales were just shy of $38 million — the best month of the young program.
The state collected $5.8 million in tax revenue on the $37.9 million of legal recreational and medical cannabis sales for the month. Governor Brian Sandoval estimated that Nevada would collect an average of $5 million per month from July 2017 to July 2019 from marijuana taxes. The state is already $800,000 above target in only its fourth month.
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“We are pretty on target with projections, maybe a little over,” said Department of Taxation spokeswoman Stephanie Klapstein. Since July 1, Nevada has generated more than $19 million in tax revenue from the cannabis sales.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
October’s sales marked a sizable jump from the roughly $27.7 million spent on recreational marijuana at Nevada dispensaries in September. Recreational sales in August weren’t too far behind October — when Henderson began retail sales — at $33.4 million.
More than $12.6 million comes from the retail tax on recreational weed. That’s 20 percent of the $63.5 million tax revenue projection budgeted for the first two years of recreational sales.
The state’s recreational marijuana program got off to a bumpy start in July as supply could not keep up with demand and some confusion over the regulations. But the state certainly has rebounded from its rough summer.
The taxes collected from cannabis goes to the state’s rainy day fund, which can be spent anywhere, but is normally reserved for emergencies.
The state is currently weighing the possibility of casinos working with the cannabis industry. If this happens, watch these numbers skyrocket.
