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Pot legalization group says North Dakota is ‘intentionally misleading’ voters on measure’s financial impact


https://www.jamestownsun.com/news/north-dakota/pot-legalization-group-says-north-dakota-is-intentionally-misleading-voters-on-measures-financial-impact

Dave Owen, the chairman of New Approach North Dakota, said the abbreviated fiscal note tacked onto his group’s measure is “obviously incomplete” and “intentionally misleading” for voters.

Marijuana legalization has proven a financial windfall for other states, and even a conservative assessment of tax revenue from pot would show North Dakota in the black by millions of dollars, Owen said.

If the legalization measure passes in November, all marijuana sales would be taxed at the statewide rate of 5%, plus local sales taxes of up to 3%. That doesn’t include a much higher excise tax — also known as a “sin tax” — that lawmakers could impose on pot sales.

Using other legal pot states like Montana and Nevada for comparison, North Dakota State University economics professor Raymond March estimates North Dakota would see about $6 million in annual sales tax revenue if pot were sold legally at dispensaries.

Dustin Gawrylow, a self-described fiscally conservative government watchdog who sits on the legalization measure’s sponsoring committee, puts the state’s annual revenue figure at $8 million to $10 million. Gawrylow based his calculation on Montana’s marijuana sales this year and adjusted for North Dakota’s lower population.

Omitting projected tax revenue from the fiscal note is “not logical,” he said, adding that the money brought into the state by legal pot sales would far exceed the costs of the program.