Reefer tax revenue nears $20M a month

Illinois banked $19.2M in taxes from adult-use cannabis in August — another in a series of monthly records

Clients line up outside the Sunnyside dispensary in Chicago’s Wrigleyville neighborhood. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)

By Ted Cox

Tax revenue from recreational marijuana is accelerating, approaching $20 million a month.

The Illinois Department of Revenue released new figures for August tax collections this week, finding that the state collected $19.2 million in taxes just for adult-use cannabis. That was to be expected after the state set a record for sales of legalized pot in July, with actual revenue collections lagging by a month.

But the new monthly record was only getting higher. The new mark obliterated the previous mark of $14 million set in July, which topped the previous record of $12 million set in June. That set tax collections for the first six months of legalization at $34.3 million, blowing past the budgeted estimate of $28 million, and in the two months since then the state has banked almost as much as in the first six months: $33.2 million.

Just for the sake of comparison, Illinois collected $26.3 million in liquor taxes in August, so recreational cannabis is fast approaching the same revenue level.

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation was expected to release August sales figures any day, which should set the state up for another record revenue haul for adult-use cannabis taxes in September.