Nevada pot taxes exceed yearly projection in 10 months

Nevada’s marijuana tax revenues have surpassed the fiscal year projection in just 10 months.

Taxation Department Director Bill Anderson said through April, the combined revenues from the medical and recreational marijuana taxes total $55.53 million. He said that’s 110 percent of what was projected for all of fiscal 2018. He said the Wholesale Marijuana Tax paid by cultivators of medical and recreational marijuana brought in $21.47 million so far. The Retail Marijuana Tax paid by non medical retail purchasers generated $34.06 million.

Pot tax revenue for the entire fiscal 2018 was projected to be $50.32 million.

Taxable sales for medical and recreational marijuana through April total $433.51 million.

Anderson said when looked at another way, total taxable sales are up $1.96 billion for the 10-month period while marijuana related sales are up more than $338 million.

“In other words, the launch of the adult-use industry accounts for a bit more than 17 percent of the overall growth in Nevada’s taxable sales base so far this fiscal year,” he said.

For just April, Anderson said marijuana tax revenues were $6.55 million. That’s less than March, which recorded a bit more than $7 million in tax revenues.

The Wholesale Marijuana Tax rate is 15 percent on revenues generated by cultivators along with fees, penalties and assessments. After paying costs of enforcing and collecting the tax, $5 million of that revenue goes to local governments and the rest to the state’s K-12 education budget.

The Retail Marijuana Tax is 10 percent and those revenues go into the state’s Rainy Day Fund.