Cannabis Has Already Contributed More Than $100M To The State Of Nevada This Year

Cannabis dispensaries, cultivators, laboratories and producers have paid more than $109 million in excise taxes and fees over the course of fiscal year 2019, breaking the $100 million mark for the first time. Taxes alone amounted to $99.18 million, up from $74.7 million last year.

While the state has not yet disclosed how much of that went to education this year, changes to the law under the leadership of Gov. Steve Sisolak mandate that 100% of taxes go to education in future years.

For the next two years, the state is projecting more than $100 million per year in tax collections.

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Cannabis sales were also up from $529 million in fiscal year 2018 to approximately $639 million in fiscal year 2019.

Commenting on the news, Riana Durrett, executive director of the Nevada Dispensary Associations, told Benzinga, “Nevada has successfully erected a strict framework for cannabis regulation that can be emulated by other states, but untested products from the illegal market continue to hijack tax revenue from education funding. Once Nevada is able to turn its attention to illegal sales then the tax revenue will increase even further.”

Photo by Javier Hasse. MedMen dispensary in Las Vegas, Nevada.