In addition to reducing criminal apprehensions, marijuana arrests also save taxpayer money per year. Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron estimates that the annual criminal justice expenditures in the United States, which include the cost of enforcement, are about $ 68 billion, or 5.54 percent of the countrys annual gross domestic product. According to Jon Gettmans 2013 study for the American Civil Liberties Union, a state that legalizes cannabis could save an average of $ 1.2 billion in taxpayer money each year. This is on the lower end of government expenditures for alcohol and tobacco, which cost about $ 10 billion per year, according to Miron.
In the long term, legalizing marijuana could save a lot of tax money. New Frontier Data Analytics, an analytics firm that tracks the costs of crime, estimates that legalizing the cannabis industry could save millions of dollars in payroll deductions. The legal marijuana industry is a new tax revenue stream at the state, local, and national level. At the federal level, sales tax money collected from the legal cannabis industry is used to fund programs like the Nurse Family Partnership program and the Child Care and Development Block Grant, which help low-income families pay for child care.
For example, California voters approved legalization of recreational marijuana in 2016 and Californias tax collectors have collected more than one billion dollars from cannabis businesses. In Colorado, for example, the economic activity generated by Colorados legal marijuana has generated more than $ 1 billion in tax revenue. Federal taxes on marijuana are not collected because marijuana is still illegal under federal law. However, if marijuana were legalized, federal taxes could be collected.
In the United States, 12 states have legalized marijuana for recreational use, and the legal marijuana market has generated new revenue for the states. Jeffrey Miron of Harvard has estimated that full legalization in Wisconsin would generate $ 2.4 billion in sales taxes and a special tax rate for marijuana. Marijuana legalization has also helped police reallocate resources away from marijuana prohibition. Proponents of marijuana legalization argue that legalizing marijuana will help reduce crime, especially violent crimes, by allowing citizens to grow their own marijuana and allowing police to confiscate property that is used to grow marijuana.
There are many compelling reasons to support nationwide legalization of adult cannabis. Cannabis legalization can help reduce social inequalities in various ways. Unequal enforcement of criminal penalties for pot use has disproportionately affected disadvantaged members of the community. The economic benefits of a legal marijuana industry take effect as more states legalize daily cannabis use and more cannabis users enter the market. Problem gamblers can also benefit from cannabis legalization.
