Marijuana sales tax in Washington, U.S. 2015-2018
Washington cannabis tax scheme
Washington state applies a 37 percent excise tax to the sale of cannabis after initially having a tiered system that taxed producers, processors and retailers 25 percent each. Fifty-five percent of the revenue generated by cannabis taxes in Washington are allocated for healthcare, the rest is distributed between various marijuana education and prevention programs.
The U.S. cannabis market
In 2017, the total revenue from cannabis specific state taxes on recreational and medical cannabis reached 610 million U.S. dollars. By 2020, tax revenue is expected to triple to 1.8 billion dollars. By that time, California is expected to be the largest market, worth an estimated 3.1 billion dollars. Washington state’s market is forecast to be valued at 1.6 billion dollars.