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FTA: '"Cannabis legalization is a new venture for Ontario. There were investments required for setting up a system that could achieve our objectives — which is

by loceng 7y ago

FTA: '"Cannabis legalization is a new venture for Ontario. There were investments required for setting up a system that could achieve our objectives — which is to protect youth and combat the illegal market. The OCRC's revenue outlook reflected the initial costs for the development of this retail system," Emily Hogeveen wrote in an emailed response.'

9nGQluzmnq3M 7y ago
That's a convenient excuse, but I don't recall Colorado losing $100 million in their first year of operations as the first legal market for cannabis anywhere: https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/revenue/colorado-marijuana-tax-data https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/revenue/colorado-marijuana-...
- Rebelgecko 7y ago
  That link only includes revenue, not expenses. I'm sure Ontario has a similar graph showing their sales tax income.
- slavik81 7y ago
  You're comparing one state's revenues to another's costs as if they were the same thing. That doesn't make sense. In fact, even if you compared to the $42M net loss in the article, it would still be a mistake. Your reference is for tax revenues, but the Ontario accounting excludes tax revenues. StatsCanada states that provincial marijuana excise taxes totaled $79M in this period, though it doesn't break it down by province. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/190619/t001e-eng.htm#fn02 https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/190619/t001e...
- UncleEntity 7y ago
  > That's a convenient excuse, but I don't recall Colorado losing $100 million in their first year of operations as the first legal market for cannabis anywhere: I don't think The State of Colorado sells people the pot but a bunch of private businesses who all have individual profit/loss experiences. If one corporation was granted a monopoly then you'd have a valid comparison.
  - Scoundreller 7y ago
    But that is the complaint: Ontario decided to go with tight control over wholesaling and retail sales, instead of letting just about anyone set up a retail store and using high taxes to make money.
Scoundreller 7y ago
They didn't set up their own system. They outsourced the website to Shopify and the logistics to another 3rd party company.

by loceng 7y ago

9nGQluzmnq3M 7y ago

That's a convenient excuse, but I don't recall Colorado losing $100 million in their first year of operations as the first legal market for cannabis anywhere: https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/revenue/colorado-marijuana-tax-data https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/revenue/colorado-marijuana-...

Rebelgecko 7y ago
That link only includes revenue, not expenses. I'm sure Ontario has a similar graph showing their sales tax income.
slavik81 7y ago
You're comparing one state's revenues to another's costs as if they were the same thing. That doesn't make sense. In fact, even if you compared to the $42M net loss in the article, it would still be a mistake. Your reference is for tax revenues, but the Ontario accounting excludes tax revenues. StatsCanada states that provincial marijuana excise taxes totaled $79M in this period, though it doesn't break it down by province. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/190619/t001e-eng.htm#fn02 https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/190619/t001e...
UncleEntity 7y ago
> That's a convenient excuse, but I don't recall Colorado losing $100 million in their first year of operations as the first legal market for cannabis anywhere: I don't think The State of Colorado sells people the pot but a bunch of private businesses who all have individual profit/loss experiences. If one corporation was granted a monopoly then you'd have a valid comparison.
- Scoundreller 7y ago
  But that is the complaint: Ontario decided to go with tight control over wholesaling and retail sales, instead of letting just about anyone set up a retail store and using high taxes to make money.

Scoundreller 7y ago

They didn't set up their own system. They outsourced the website to Shopify and the logistics to another 3rd party company.