Record reefer revenue for state coffers in June
State collects almost $12M from taxes for recreational cannabis, topping total for April
Illinois tax coffers might be hurting from the economic slowdown brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, but revenues remain high for newly legalized adult-use cannabis. (Shutterstock)
By Ted Cox
Many sources of state tax revenue have suffered during the coronavirus pandemic, but the burgeoning new industry of recreational marijuana ain’t one of them.
The Illinois Department of Revenue reported Monday that tax revenues from adult-use cannabis reached a record $12 million in June, topping the $11.5 million amassed in April.
Taxes collected typically lag a month behind sales and revenue generated, but the June collection of $11,954,246 was the highest monthly total since Illinois legalized marijuana with the new year in January. The Revenue Department reported $10.3 million collected in February, $8.5 million in March, and another $10.3 million in May, for a total through June of $52.8 million.
The Illinois Department of Professional and Financial Regulation reported a record $44.3 million in sales of adult-use cannabis in May, topping the previous high of $39.2 million set in the first month of legal weed in January.
The state originally reported $10.4 million in tax revenue from sales of adult-use cannabis in January, with $7.3 million in taxes particular to marijuana and the rest in standard sales taxes. The tax rate shifts on legal weed depending on the product and strength.
Sam Salustro, spokesman for the Department of Revenue, said taxes for recreational-use marijuana typically run about 65 percent of the total tax. According to Salustro, the department deposited $8.4 million into the Cannabis Regulation Fund in June, including money reported “in transit” when the report was pulled, which was slightly higher than the reported revenue of $12 million. Illinois has now banked a total of $34.3 million in pot taxes alone, blowing past the $28 million estimated in Gov. Pritzker’s state budget for the first six months of legalization.
Salustro pointed out that a portion of every sale goes to the Restore, Reinvest, and Renew Fund to reinvest in communities disproportionately impacted by the failed War on Drugs. “Achieving social equity within this newly legal industry is top priority of the Pritzker administration,” he added.
Other major forms of state tax revenue, including the standard sales tax and the motor-fuel tax, suffered slumps in the first half of the year during the economic decline brought on by efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.