Michigan’s Road Plan Could Bring in $420 Million From New Weed Tax

Michigan’s lawmakers think they’ve found a new way to pay for our god awful, brutal roads...by taxing weed even more.

The state House just passed a plan that slaps a 24% tax on the wholesale price of marijuana. According to Fox 2 Detroit, that’s the price dispensaries pay before selling it to you. If it clears the Senate and gets the governor’s signature, it kicks in at the start of next year.

How Much Money Would the New Weed Tax Raise?

So, how much money are we talking? A fiscal report says this new tax would pull in about $420 million every year. Seriously, $420 million? From a marijuana tax plan? The number almost feels like lawmakers cooked it up on purpose just for the joke. You have to admit, that’s at least pretty funny.

However, I’m sure people in the weed business don’t find any of it funny since those extra costs usually end up landing on the consumer, too.

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Roughly $3 million would cover the cost of running the program, and the rest would go straight into something called the Neighborhood Road Fund, which basically means more cash for construction.

Michigan Already Has a Marijuana Tax

Michigan already has a 10% marijuana tax that came with the legalization of recreational weed back in 2019. That money gets chopped up between schools, roads, and the cities that actually allow dispensaries to operate. Just this year alone, local communities scored around $100 million from it.

The thinking in Lansing seems to be that since people are already buying a ton of marijuana in Michigan, the state might as well squeeze more money out of it for roads. The House is on board, and now it’s up to the Senate and Governor Whitmer to decide if this new tax actually becomes law.