As part of the Michigan Regulation and Taxation Marijuana Act, all sales of legal marijuana are taxed.
“And in the last fiscal year, there was enough funds in that excise tax that it totaled up to about $290 million dollars available to distribute to the places that the marijuana regulation fund goes out to.”
David Harns is spokesperson for Michigan’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency. He says a jurisdiction can distribute the windfall as it sees fit.
“70% of it goes to the roads and the schools, but the remaining 30% is split evenly between municipalities and counties.”
Harns explained each will receive more than $59,000 for every licensed retail store and microbusiness. In 2023, Kent County authorized 38 licenses for businesses to sell marijuana. That adds up to almost $2.5 million in funds returned to the county.
Harns says statewide, that’s up 46% from last year, adding that since marijuana was legalized in Michigan five years ago, the industry has created 30,000 jobs.
“In a time where local budgets don’t really have any new revenue sources for increased revenue at the county level or at the city or township level, this has been definitely a boost to the budgets of many municipalities across the state where they are able to put in hundreds of thousands of dollars into their budget thanks to this industry.”