House-Passed Marijuana Legalization Bill Would Add $13.7B To Federal Budget, Congressional Analysts Say

The federal marijuana legalization bill passed in a historic vote last week by the U.S. House of Representatives would generate about $13.7 billion in net revenue for the U.S. treasury over the next decade, according to a new report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). It would also cut federal prison spending by nearly $1 billion.

Most of the new funds—roughly $8 billion—would come from business taxes on the legal marijuana industry, such as income and payroll taxes. A separate excise tax, initially based on the price of cannabis products, is estimated to yield another $5.7 billion.

“CBO and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation estimate that H.R. 3884 would increase revenues, on net, by about $13.7 billion over the 2021-2030 period,” says the nonpartisan report, published Friday.