Robert Schiappacasse is co-chair of the Cannabis Industry Practice Group at Sills Cummis & Gross in Newark.
He tells us how the delay in legalizing recreational marijuana use could actually help New Jersey avoid other states’ problems.
Other states are realizing that their system of taxation is not working. They’re not collecting the revenue that they projected. The taxes are so high that they are hurting the businesses and therefore keeping some of the illegal market still robust and strong. … They have these very high excise taxes on growers and cultivators. Sales are simply not generating the revenue necessary because those taxes, of course, are passed along. It’s making product too expensive and, therefore, they’re not collecting the revenue and the business is suffering. … I think a sales tax could work and probably is a fair tax if state governments aren’t counting on, or projecting, a revenue number that’s unrealistic.”