Eighteen states have legalized the sale of cannabis for general adult use and sales are already underway in 10 of those states. Every state allowing legal sales applies an excise tax to cannabis based on the product’s quantity, its price, or both. Quantity taxes are typically based on weight, though New York measures quantity by the amount of THC sold. ITEP research indicates that taxes based on quantity will be more sustainable over time because prices are widely expected to fall as the cannabis industry matures. Most states allowing for legal cannabis sales apply their general sales taxes to the product and local sales taxes also typically apply where such taxes exist.
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map April 20, 2022 How Is Recreational Cannabis Taxed in Your State?
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April 27, 2017 Expert Quote
“For the better part of the 20th century, the nation’s economic pie grew as did incomes for all Americans. But for the past 40 years, wages for ordinary Americans have… -
April 21, 2017 Dylan Grundman O’Neill
Dylan is the “coach on the floor” of the ITEP state policy team. He provides hands-on analysis and support on tax policy issues to advocates and lawmakers in several states. He also supports and vets the work of ITEP’s other state policy analysts as they do the same in their states, and he liaises between the state team and the data and model team to ensure quality and consistency in how ITEP models policies and presents data.
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April 21, 2017 Matthew Gardner
Matt is a senior fellow at ITEP where he has worked since 1998. He previously served as ITEP’s executive director from 2006 to 2016. Mr. Gardner’s work focuses on federal, state and local tax systems, with a particular emphasis on the impact of tax policies on low- and moderate-income tax payers. He uses ITEP’s microsimulation model to produce economic projections and analyses on the effects of current and proposed federal and state tax and budget policies.
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April 21, 2017 Carl Davis
Carl is the research director at ITEP, where he has worked since 2008. As ITEP’s research director, Carl is responsible for exploring new and emerging trends in tax policy. In this role, he has authored reports on proposals to legalize and tax cannabis sales, to implement vehicle-miles-traveled taxes, to update the tax treatment of the “gig economy,” and to improve the enforcement of sales taxes as they relate to online shopping. Carl has also conducted extensive research into private school tax credits. That research helped reveal the profitable tax shelters that these credits created for some upper-income donors to private schools and contributed to the creation of a new IRS regulation cracking down on those shelters.
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April 21, 2017 Aidan Davis
Aidan is ITEP’s acting state policy director. She coordinates ITEP’s state tax policy research and advocacy agenda and works closely with policymakers, legislative staff, national and state organizations across the country to advance policy solutions that aim to achieve equitable and sustainable state and local tax systems.