Trudeau proposing $1 per gram tax on recreational pot

Oct 4 2017, 9:02 pm

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau outlined a proposed taxing system for legalized pot in a First Ministers Meeting in Ottawa on Tuesday.

Trudeau’s proposal is for a $1 per gram excise tax up to prices of $10. And for anything over $10 a gram, there would be a 10% tax.

The proposal also includes a plan to divide the revenue 50-50 between the federal government and the provincial governments.

While provinces argued that they would be spending more costs up-front in terms on “installing the regime,” Trudeau said that he is open to discuss to making sure the federal government is “doing this right.”

And he stressed that the taxation is not about cashing in.

“I emphasize once again that nobody’s mindset on this approach is bringing in tax revenue on this,” Trudeau said. “The mindset with which we have approached the legalization and control of marijuana from the very beginning has been from a public health and safety standpoint.”

He also said that the proposals in place is what’s needed to be done to protect youth, and to remove the black market from accessing “the billions of dollars of profits that they do every year off of this.”

But it seems like Trudeau caught some premiers off guard. While agreeing on the priorities for health products, Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister said that there may be more to this issue for provinces.

“We don’t really know what the ramifications are of this. This is a historic change,” said the Premier. “We’re talking about splitting revenue at this point we don’t know what the net may be. We may be splitting a cost, not a net proceed. We don’t know.”

The federal government plans to legalize and regulate marijuana across the country by July 2018.

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