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Overhaul Of Marijuana Taxation Goes To Washington Governor

Drug Enforcement Agency

Recreational marijuana buyers would pay a flat 37 percent pot tax, plus sales tax, under a proposal headed to the desk of Washington Governor Jay Inslee.

The measure easily cleared the state Senate Saturday after passing the House Friday. It would eliminate the three-tier tax system approved by Washington voters in 2012. Instead, consumers would pay a single tax at the point of sale.

The measure would also ban marijuana use in a public place and ban marijuana clubs. And it would change the name of the Liquor Control Board to the Liquor and Cannabis Board.

Washington lawmakers approved a measure in April to regulate the state’s largely unregulated medical marijuana industry.

Copyright 2015 Northwest News Network

Since January 2004, Austin Jenkins has been the Olympia-based political reporter for the Northwest News Network. In that position, Austin covers Northwest politics and public policy as well as the Washington State legislature. You can also see Austin on television as host of TVW's (the C–SPAN of Washington State) Emmy-nominated public affairs program "Inside Olympia." Prior to joining the Northwest News Network, Austin worked as a television reporter in Seattle, Portland and Boise. Austin is a graduate of Garfield High School in Seattle and Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut. Austin’s reporting has been recognized with awards from the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors, Public Radio News Directors Incorporated and the Society of Professional Journalists.
Person: Austin Jenkins