Become part of the movement for unbiased, accessible election information. Donate today.
Denver Retention and Continuation of Marijuana Sales Tax, Measure 2B (November 2015)
| Voting on Marijuana | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Ballot Measures | |||
| By state | |||
| By year | |||
| Not on ballot | |||
|
A measure to retain and continue a marijuana sales tax was on the ballot for Denver voters in Denver County, Colorado, on November 3, 2015. It was approved.
This measure authorized the city to spend the revenue collected in 2014 from a sales tax approved by voters in November 2013. The measure was also designed to allow the city to continue to levy the special marijuana sales tax, which was authorized at an initial rate of 3.5 percent, with the option of increasing it to as much as 15 percent.[1]
In 2014, the city collected $5,290,016 from its marijuana sales tax. According to TABOR law, a certain amount of this revenue would have had to have been refunded to the taxpayers by December 31, 2015, if voters had not approved Measure 2B in on November 3, 2015. To read more about TABOR law in Colorado and in general, see this page.[1]
Proposition AA, which was approved on the statewide level in November 2013, established an additional 15 percent excise tax and a 10 percent sales tax on all recreational marijuana sales in the state. The continued local tax that Measure 2B authorized was designed to be in addition to the state-set tax on marijuana.[1]
A similar, statewide TABOR measure, Proposition BB, was also approved on November 3, 2015, authorizing the state to keep the revenue from the Proposition AA special sales tax.
Election results
| Denver, Measure 2B | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
 Yes | 97,057 | 80.57% | ||
| No | 23,403 | 19.43% | ||
- Election results from Denver Elections Office
Text of measure
Ballot question
The following question appeared on the Denver ballot:[1]
| “ |
May the City and County of Denver retain and spend all 2014 revenues derived from the special retail marijuana sales tax as originally approved by the voters on November 5, 2013, and continue to impose and collect the tax to the full extent permitted by the original voter approval?[2] |
” |
Resolution
The full text of the resolution calling for this measure is available here.
Support
Arguments in favor
Those in favor of the measure cited the fact that the original tax brought before voters in 2013 was approved by a large margin, saying that it was therefore reasonable to extend it. Additionally, supporters of the measure believed that since the revenue raised by the tax would fund services such as public education about marijuana use, the tax itself was worthy of support.[3]
Of Denver's four ballot measures to be decided on November 3, 2015, Measure 2B was the only one lacking an organized campaign in support of the measure.[4] There was, however, an organized campaign promoting a related statewide measure, spearheaded by Sen. Pat Steadman. The Vote Yes on Prop BB campaign sought to encourage voters to support a statewide measure which also addressed the question of whether lawmakers may spend the funds raised from Colorado's marijuana tax.[5]
Opposition
Arguments against
Opponents of the measure were concerned that, should the tax revenue resulting from this measure become expected by the city, the general baseline of city spending would increase. They feared that this could lead to a situation in which there were not adequate marijuana dollars to support the city's spending, and the higher baseline amount of spending could result in a heavier tax burden on all Denver taxpayers in the future.[3]
The related statewide measure faced more vocal opposition. Former state lawmaker Douglas Bruce characterized the measure as a tax increase and claimed that the ballot question was unconstitutional. He also claimed that some of the programs funded by the tax revenue "have nothing to do with marijuana," which he also objected to.[5]
Path to the ballot
The wording of the measure was approved by a 5-0 vote of the Denver City Council on May 13, 2015. Final sign-off from the committee in charge of the measure came on June 8, 2015, putting the measure on the ballot to be decided by city voters.[6]
Related measures
Statewide
- Colorado Marijuana TABOR Refund Measure, Proposition BB (2015)
- Colorado Proposition AA, Taxes on the Sale of Marijuana (2013)
Local
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Denver marijuana sales tax retention. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Additional reading
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Denver City Government, "Council Cill NO. 15-0314 calling for the referral of this measure to the ballot," accessed July 3, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 League of Women Voters of Denver Education Fund, "November 3, 2015 Coordinated Election," accessed October 15, 2015
- ↑ Denver Post, "Denver ballot: Marijuana tax question would let city keep $5.3M," October 15, 2015
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Denver Post, "Ahead of 2015 vote, campaign pushes marijuana tax question in Colorado," September 13, 2015
- ↑ Denver Post, "Denver marijuana tax retention ballot measure passes first step," May 13, 2015
| ||||||||
