5 ms·

So was it good or bad? Is the tax money benefiting the people socially and economically while minimizing the side effects?

zeveb 11y ago
It's good, because people are exercising their right to consume as they wish. It's bad, because that right is heavily taxed and regulated. It's good, because it's helped the economy. It's bad, because people spend way too much time thinking about it.
- HNaTTY 11y ago
  It's good, because you can avoid all taxes by growing your own.
  - ycmbntrthrwaway 11y ago
    Is it legal to grow your own and smoking with friends?
    - rdudek 11y ago
      Yes. 6 plants, 3 budding.
- goda90 11y ago
  But it comes with free Frogurt
- serge2k 11y ago
  > It's bad, because people spend way too much time thinking about it. This is actually the thing I hate about pot, stoners won't shut up about it.
  - fnordfnordfnord 11y ago
    Somewhere a bunch of people are getting stoned, and they haven't even bothered to email you, they maybe didn't even send out so much as a tweet. What you hate, is the outspokenness of a small fraction of users. There's a fair chance you'd hate listening to these people no matter what they were on about at any particular moment.
    - serge2k 11y ago
      Fair point, I'm talking about the "SMOKE WEED ERRYDAY" sort of crowd.
panzagl 11y ago
Tax money hasn't appeared to make it to schools or roads, but that's not really a priority here (after all, Mississippi spends less). Commercial real estate prices in Denver have been driven up to the point where it's driven out established businesses who've seen their leases skyrocket. I'd say the biggest worry is what's going to happen if someplace like CA legalizes- CO has a history of boom and bust, and Denver becoming a ghost town of abandoned grow houses seems like the sort of thing that would happen here.
- yesiamyourdad 11y ago
  If I recall, most if not all the money was tagged for schools. Doing a quick search, it looks like CO made $76 million off MJ taxes in 2014. The new high school in Northfield I believe has a construction budget of around $50 million. That's one high school in a state with 644 high schools, not to mention all the middle and elementary schools. And that's not counting the schools that just need major work done. Denver in particular has many aging schools that need things like new boilers or central air or capital investments like a STEM/STEAM lab. It seems like a lot of money, but when you look at what costs they're trying to cover, it doesn't go very far.
  - ufmace 11y ago
    Seems like a bit much to compare the annual tax revenue to the total construction budget for a school. AFAIK, any type of construction is typically financed and treated in budgets as being paid off over the course of 30 years or so. Maybe the annual budget for school construction work statewide for the same year?
- bmelton 11y ago
  The usual shell game when pegging a new tax to education is that whatever old funds for education get pulled, and simply replaced with the new tax money. So, if the schools were getting $3 million in subsidy before, they peg the pot taxes to schools, pull the previous $3 million to go to different pet projects, and the schools see (at best) a 0% change. Tying marijuana taxes to education does somewhat lock the education budget in, so there's maybe an advantage, but generally speaking, it's a political move, because then you can paste anyone voting against whatever law as someone who is voting against education.

zeveb 11y ago

It's good, because people are exercising their right to consume as they wish. It's bad, because that right is heavily taxed and regulated. It's good, because it's helped the economy. It's bad, because people spend way too much time thinking about it.

HNaTTY 11y ago
It's good, because you can avoid all taxes by growing your own.
- ycmbntrthrwaway 11y ago
  Is it legal to grow your own and smoking with friends?
  - rdudek 11y ago
    Yes. 6 plants, 3 budding.
goda90 11y ago
But it comes with free Frogurt
serge2k 11y ago
> It's bad, because people spend way too much time thinking about it. This is actually the thing I hate about pot, stoners won't shut up about it.
- fnordfnordfnord 11y ago
  Somewhere a bunch of people are getting stoned, and they haven't even bothered to email you, they maybe didn't even send out so much as a tweet. What you hate, is the outspokenness of a small fraction of users. There's a fair chance you'd hate listening to these people no matter what they were on about at any particular moment.
  - serge2k 11y ago
    Fair point, I'm talking about the "SMOKE WEED ERRYDAY" sort of crowd.

panzagl 11y ago

Tax money hasn't appeared to make it to schools or roads, but that's not really a priority here (after all, Mississippi spends less). Commercial real estate prices in Denver have been driven up to the point where it's driven out established businesses who've seen their leases skyrocket. I'd say the biggest worry is what's going to happen if someplace like CA legalizes- CO has a history of boom and bust, and Denver becoming a ghost town of abandoned grow houses seems like the sort of thing that would happen here.

yesiamyourdad 11y ago
If I recall, most if not all the money was tagged for schools. Doing a quick search, it looks like CO made $76 million off MJ taxes in 2014. The new high school in Northfield I believe has a construction budget of around $50 million. That's one high school in a state with 644 high schools, not to mention all the middle and elementary schools. And that's not counting the schools that just need major work done. Denver in particular has many aging schools that need things like new boilers or central air or capital investments like a STEM/STEAM lab. It seems like a lot of money, but when you look at what costs they're trying to cover, it doesn't go very far.
- ufmace 11y ago
  Seems like a bit much to compare the annual tax revenue to the total construction budget for a school. AFAIK, any type of construction is typically financed and treated in budgets as being paid off over the course of 30 years or so. Maybe the annual budget for school construction work statewide for the same year?
bmelton 11y ago
The usual shell game when pegging a new tax to education is that whatever old funds for education get pulled, and simply replaced with the new tax money. So, if the schools were getting $3 million in subsidy before, they peg the pot taxes to schools, pull the previous $3 million to go to different pet projects, and the schools see (at best) a 0% change. Tying marijuana taxes to education does somewhat lock the education budget in, so there's maybe an advantage, but generally speaking, it's a political move, because then you can paste anyone voting against whatever law as someone who is voting against education.