This Is How Much Each State May Make on Marijuana

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published May 24, 8:05AM EDT

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This Is How Much Each State May Make on Marijuana — © nickolette from Bulgaria / Wikimedia Commons

Marijuana sales are not yet legal in every state. At a federal level, the sale and use of cannabis are illegal. However, most states have legalized both recreational and medical marijuana as a means to make tax dollars. Many experts believe a change in federal law is just around the corner.
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The Tax Foundation looked at the current and near-term revenue from taxes on cannabis by state. It points out that most states have two levels of taxes: an excise tax and a sales tax. In a recent analysis, the Tax Foundation points out:

A crucial element of legalizing recreational marijuana is tax design. Most states that currently allow and tax sales have opted for a price-based (ad valorem) excise tax. Taxing based on price means there is a taxable event with a transaction, allowing for simple valuation.

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A new projection by the foundation forecasts taxes by state for cannabis sales. The list is based on states that have raised taxes via this means for at least three years. It shows “potential” revenue for fiscal 2020 and actual revenue for the current year.

These are the states making the most on cannabis sales:

State	Potential Revenue ($)
California	1,086,253,401
Florida	448,740,070
New York	431,141,823
Texas	397,424,206
Michigan	288,183,493
Washington	285,674,135
Illinois	277,576,356
Pennsylvania	244,553,615
Colorado	230,239,177
Ohio	220,827,478
Massachusetts	214,347,227
Georgia	198,400,771
Arizona	183,169,705
North Carolina	182,947,622
Oregon	182,845,089
New Jersey	158,974,353
Indiana	157,009,061
Virginia	139,977,848
Maryland	135,837,117
Tennessee	132,509,552
Minnesota	122,072,389
Missouri	119,222,374
Wisconsin	117,791,078
Nevada	106,255,348
Connecticut	97,696,550
South Carolina	96,680,914
Alabama	92,217,856
Kentucky	83,008,154
Louisiana	81,616,779
Oklahoma	67,680,000
New Mexico	61,692,434
Arkansas	59,314,764
Maine	50,685,850
Iowa	50,183,462
Mississippi	47,304,242
Utah	44,428,908
New Hampshire	44,163,575
Kansas	42,058,743
West Virginia	38,327,540
Nebraska	35,975,930
Rhode Island	35,455,500
Montana	35,142,502
Idaho	33,295,445
Hawaii	28,453,985
Alaska	28,258,632
Vermont	27,313,974
District of Columbia	26,605,996
Delaware	24,566,974
South Dakota	14,270,281
North Dakota	13,231,599
Wyoming	10,054,045

Click here to see the 15 states where marijuana use is legal.
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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.