Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) is proposing including cannabis products in the state’s wholesale tax – which is applied to other smoking products like tobacco – as part of her plan to fund infrastructure in the state, the Detroit News reports. The plan could generate $470 million to help fund road and bridge repair in the state.
Whitmer’s team said the plan would “close a loophole that exempted the marijuana industry from the wholesale tax” but did not describe how the plan would work, the report says.
The state’s wholesale tax on tobacco products is 32%.
Cannabis was legalized for adult use in the state by voters in 2018 and retail sales are taxed at 10% under the law. Robin Schneider, executive director of the Michigan Cannabis Industry Association, told the Detroit News that any changes to the law would require a three-fourths majority vote in the Legislature but that, if approved, Michigan would carry one of the highest cannabis tax rates in the country.
In addition to the cannabis tax hike, the governor’s plan aims to use other taxes – including the state’s gasoline tax, a tax on big tech companies, and extending the wholesale tax on other smoking and vaping products – to fund the $3 billion project.
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