Tax Revenue From Legalized Cannabis Eyed For NYC Subway Repairs

[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]N[/dropcap]ew York City, New York’s subway system could get a much-needed upgrade if the state decides to fully legalize cannabis. A new report by the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management calls for the statewide legalization of recreational cannabis in order to  inject more cash into mass public transit.

“No new revenue source can match a tax on weed, ” Mitchell Moss, director of the Rudin Center, told the New York Post. “New Yorkers deserve a subway system that is as productive as they are. It is time for New York to legalize and tax cannabis—and to designate the revenues for mass transit.”

State officials studying legal cannabis in New York estimate that the state could collect up to $677 million annually based on a 15 percent tax on retail sales at $374 an ounce. The state’s illegal cannabis market generated an estimated $3.5 billion annually. The legal cannabis industry in North America reached $9.2 billion in 2017 and is projected to generate $47 billion over the next decade. Several states, including Colorado, Washington and Oregon have all reported higher-than-expected tax revenues from the legalization of cannabis.

The report comes as Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has previously opposed legalizing cannabis, searches for a way to fund the plan to fix the subway and bus services. With congestion pricing still a tough sell for many lawmakers, a cannabis tax could give politicians another choice.

“Some of them would rather tax cannabis, which does relieve pain, than impose a congestion pricing fee, which is painful,” Mitchell Moss, a professor at New York University, said.

Moss envisions an even bigger haul when tourism is factored into the cannabis industry that could land in New York. “New York cannot afford to let citizens go to New Jersey and Massachusetts to buy cannabis,” said Moss.

New York’s state Department of Health has already backed the legalization of cannabis.