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New York is set to reach new highs starting in 2023 — thanks to legalized pot.
The state plans to reap more than $1.25 billion in new revenue from legal marijuana sales during the next six years, according to the fiscal 2023 spending plan unveiled Tuesday by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
The first year’s take is a relatively puny $56 million, with most of the money — $40 million — coming from licensing fees paid by growers and sellers, based on figures in the briefing book on Hochul’s proposed $216.3 billion budget.
Those fees are expected to start rolling in later this year and storefront sales of recreational marijuana are likely to begin next year, state Budget Director Robert Mujica said during an afternoon briefing in Albany.
Once the business begins booming, projections show the state will collect rapidly increasing revenues that reach $363 million in fiscal 2028.
Recreational marijuana was legalized as part of last year’s budget process and Hochul made the budding industry a high priority when she succeeded former Gov. Andrew Cuomo following his resignation over a sexual harassment scandal last year.
Cannabis products will be taxed by the state on the amount of THC — the chemical compound that gets people stoned — they contain, according to the budget briefing book, which doesn’t specify that rate.
The state will also collect a 9 percent excise tax and local governments will collect a 4 percent excise tax, in addition to state and local sales taxes.
Forty percent of the state’s revenues will go to education, with another 40 percent earmarked for a new “Community Grants Reinvestment Fund” and the remaining 20 percent to drug treatment programs.
The state Office of Cannabis Management will seek to award half of the state’s licenses to “social and economic equity applicants,” including minority- and women-owned companies, struggling farmers, ex-cons and disabled military veterans, according to the budget briefing book.
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