Ohio’s governor has requested a tax hike on marijuana. Mike DeWine wasn’t included in the budget for Ohio released earlier this week.
The Ohio Capital Journal reports that Republican lawmakers at the Ohio state capital insisted on this week that they will avoid tax increases whenever possible – including those related to the recently established recreational marijuana trade.
The Journal quoted Rep. Brian Stewart as saying that there were no tax increases included in the budget. We are not increasing taxes on tobacco, sports betting or marijuana.
Stewart’s response was in response to DeWine’s specific request for a budget that would raise the cannabis tax rate from 10% to 20 percent to pay for local jail improvements, police enforcement, poison-control, help with expunging old cannabis related convictions, and addiction treatment services.
Journal: Ohio lawmakers instead made clear that DeWine is not their boss and issued a much different budget agenda from the one requested by the governor. DeWine has the power to veto specific items, which means that changes could still come.
The deadline for the approval of a budget is July.
NORML wrote in a Thursday blog that DeWine’s proposal appears to fit into a trend across the country whereby states increasingly rely on marijuana tax revenue to fill state coffers. California, Maryland Michigan and New Jersey have also either proposed or pending legislation to increase the tax on recreational cannabis, according to the marijuana advocacy group.