The Parliamentary Budget Office or PBO has recently released an estimate of how much the government could raise if marijuana would be made legal. PBO claimed that the Australian government would make millions of tax dollars if marijuana was legal and if after federal law enforcement stopped going after marijuana related-crimes.
According to Who Runs Goverment, the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) has publicized an estimate of how much the Aussie government could garner if a 10% goods and services tax (GST) was hypothetically placed on legalized household consumption of marijuana. Moreover, they also made a guess of how much will the government raise after federal law enforcement stopped going after marijuana related-crime
It claimed that if all marijuana, cannabis and hemp consumption, cultivation and trade was made legal beginning on July 2017, the PBO claimed that the GST revenue would increase by approximately $650 million in the fiscal year 2015up to 2016 budget forward estimates period, which would extend through 2018-19. The expenses of the Australian Federal Police and Australian Border Force would also be condensed, among other agencies.
Wearable-Technology noted that the estimate used to be labored out on the request of recent South Wales' Senator David Leyonhjelm, who has claimed that marijuana will have to be legal, specifically for clinical usage and pain reduction. "Of the $1.5 billion dollars spent once a year on drug regulation enforcement, 70% is caused by marijuana. That Is a price we wouldn't have," he stated in a parliamentary speech in July 2015. He added, "If its consumption is criminal, it can be taxed."
But still, the PBO mentioned that the costing had "low reliability," because of the uncertainly about the price and quantity of marijuana that would be consumed once it was made legal. Moreover, the figures also assumed the entire states and territories would fully legalize the drug with the commonwealth, among other conditions.
While there has been little movement toward comprehensive marijuana legalisation in Australia, state and federal governments have been testing the waters for giving medicinal cannabis the go-ahead. In October 2015, Health Minister Sussan Ley announced the government would move to adjust the legislation to consent to the "controlled cultivation" of the plant in Australia for medicinal uses, as claimed by Mashable.
For now, the hypothetical estimate of the BPO presumed that the policy could increase marijuana consumption from around 333 tonnes in 2016-2017 to 378 tonnes in 2017-2018 if it was legalized. But as of the moment, the legalization of marijuana in Australia is still under process.
