Denver Wants To Increase Weed Tax

The City of Denver wants to raise taxes on marijuana sales.

Denver City officials announced a new partnership with the Denver Housing Authority in hopes of boosting Denver’s affordable housing fund to $30 million annually. To get to that number, the city proposes contributing an additional $7 million from the general fund and then raising Denver’s marijuana sales tax from its current rate of 3.5% to 5.5%, generating an additional $8 million per year.

Affordable housing is a big problem. We can all agree on that. Prices just keep going up as does the homeless population. It's an honorable cause to try and provide everyone a home, however, I'm not sure tax increases are the solution.

"Vice" products like alcohol, cigarettes, and now cannibus are easy targets anytime the local, state, or federal government needs to raise money. That's where I take issue. We need a few more million, let's just tax the weed user.

Denver says it will create or preserve about 6,400 homes over the next five years, more than doubling their current estimates. That's nice, but that hardly helps everyone in need. We'll see if it comes to pass. The marijuana tax raise will require action from Denver City Council.

Should it happen, will Denver's actions set a new precedent? Will weed-friendly cities around the Grand Valley tack on additional taxes too because they need to fund....(fill in the blank)? 

Credit: Denver7