Although he didn’t mention cannabis in his budget address, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s $45 billion spending plan (pdf) sets the stage for a bill to legalize recreational marijuana this legislative session.
The legislature is now working on the 2023/2024 budget.
The budget projects spending beyond the fiscal year, as common, so lawmakers can predict how today’s spending will play out in the state’s future.
In the projections, Shapiro includes income for a recreational marijuana program—an “Adult Use Cannabis Tax,” his proposed budget says.
It calls for a 20 percent tax on the wholesale price of products sold through the regulated framework of production and sales, once legalized, the budget says. The proposal assumes sales would start in January 2025 and it estimates generating revenues of $15.9 million for the fiscal year 2024–2025; $64.1 million in 2025–2026; $132.6 million for 2026–2027; and $188.8 million for 2027–2028….