ahhh...the sweet smell of rebellion wafting through the air...
The Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act will be on the ballot in California after businessman and activist Richard Lee led a successful campaign to collect the 690,000 signatures needed to let the voters decide.
Lee says it’s all about the economy, stupid.
California is facing a staggering deficit with no end in sight. Dramatic cuts to education and other departments have taken place and more are looming. Sound familiar?
“We're definitely getting more support every day from people who haven't supported us in the past,” Lee told ABC News.
“It's history repeating itself... like alcohol prohibition during the Great Depression, we now have the Great Recession.”
World War II also played a role in ending the Great Depression, but Lee does have a point.
There are people lots of people who smoke marijuana. The state doesn’t get a cut. If the state allowed its possession and sale, and heavily taxed it, it would create a new revenue stream of millions of dollars annually.
Here’s another key element of the California proposal; Individual counties or municipalities could choose to tax and regulate commercial marijuana production and sales. They could first decide to allow sales and the tax the heck out of the proceeds. These places would not have to wait for the money to trickle down from the state - it would take their cut off the top.
In a perfect world the following could happen; A Kirkwood, University City, Ballwin, Manchester or Maplewood could approve the possession and sale of marijuana. Once the cash came rolling in, these municipalities’ money woes would ease. Property taxes and other fees in these towns could be frozen at current levels or even lowered.
It would be easier to pass ballot initiatives such as Proposition A or school funding proposals because people in these towns wouldn’t face tax increase questions every year or so.
Suppose this deal raised so much money that California could actually lower real estate and personal property tax?
Before anyone accuses me of being Pollyannaish, I’m just spelling out what could actually happen. I’m not saying it would happen. I’m really not up for the moral debate, either. Today’s column is about dollars and cents, not right and wrong.
But if California passes this initiative, and a year later its budget is in much better shape, dozens of states will take a shot at it. Some like Washington have similar signature-gathering efforts underway.
Even if the California initiative fails, there will be other states considering the potential to raise a lot of money.
Here are the details of the initiative. If passed, anyone 21 and older could legally possess an ounce of marijuana and/or grow whatever can fit in a 5-by-5-foot plot.
Like any other fruit or vegetable, most Americans would rather go to the store and buy it as opposed to growing it - regardless of cost.
This is where the tax comes in and this is where the money will start flowing.
So far, several police organizations, some organized labor organizations and the state NAACP have gone on record with support.
The state Republican Party, conservatives, senior Americans, mothers of teenagers and the California Police Chiefs Association stand opposed.
The latest polls show the ballot initiative holding 56 percent of the vote.
I doubt any legislator or civic leader who opposes the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act would turn down the tax money it could help raise in the near future.
We’ll see.
In the meantime, get out and vote on Tuesday.