The good news is that the State of Oregon brought in over 60 million dollars in taxes from adult-use marijuana sales. That is significantly higher than what was estimated to be brought in before 2016 started. However, the bad news is that the tax revenues are declining at a significant pace.
Per The Statesman Journal:
“Taxes collected on sales totaled $5.6 million in December, a 13 percent decline from November and a 28 percent drop from the peak of $7.8 million in October. ”
“For the year, tax collections totaled $60 million, a sizable boost above the $45 million expected by state officials at the beginning of the year. ”
Anyone who is involved in the marijuana industry has already known that the adult-use industry has been suffering. Testing issues and foot-dragging on issuing industry licenses has often been the reasons cited for the industry slowdown.
This upcoming legislative session in Oregon is going to be extremely vital to the future success of the marijuana industry in Oregon. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people in Oregon right now that value profit over compassion and fairness, and the mindset of ‘I’m going to get mine, to hell with yours’ is way too common. Oregon’s legislative session starts in February. I suggest you get in touch with your elected officials early and often.