Reefer tax revenue closes in on booze

New high in sales of legal weed generates new record for adult-use tax revenue

Buds and beers sit side by side on a brewery tour in Denver. (Wikimedia Commons/My 420 Tours)

By Ted Cox

As expected, Illinois set a new high for tax revenue on adult-use cannabis in November, in the process closing in on the money generated by liquor taxes.

The Illinois Department of Revenue posted a record $22.9 million in taxes from recreational marijuana in November, following in the footsteps of the record $75.3 million in sales from October, as collections typically lag a month behind sales. With the increase from the previous month’s record of $21 million, the state approached $150 million in revenue generated in the first 11 months of legalization, with another month to go to complete the year.

Legal weed came within $3 million of the revenue generated from liquor taxes, as the state collected $25.7 million from booze sales in November.

That might be the end of the record highs for the time being, however. The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation reported just last week that sales of adult-use cannabis actually declined slightly in November to $75.2 million, even as sales to so-called cannabis tourists from out of state reached another new high. Overall, the state has generated the $150 million of revenue on sales of $582 million.

The Revenue Department also reported that gas taxes reached a pandemic high of $213 million in November, and hotel taxes cracked $10 million for the first time since COVID-19 hit in March. Gaming taxes, however, barely cracked $100,000. Last November, the state recorded $227 million in motor-fuel taxes, $46 million in hotel taxes, and $161,000 in gaming revenue.