Recreational cannabis excise taxation in the USA: Constructing a comparable tax measure for empirical analysis

IF 4.4 2区医学 Q1 SUBSTANCE ABUSE

International Journal of Drug Policy Pub Date : 2024-11-09 DOI:10.1016/j.drugpo.2024.104630

Hojin Park , Dong Won Yoon , Qian Yang , Yanyun He , Bing Han , Yuyan Shi , Ce Shang

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background

As of August 2023, 20 states in the US have established recreational cannabis retail markets and impose excise taxes on these products. However, there is significant heterogeneity in the bases (i.e., characteristics that taxes are applied to, such as price, weight, and potency), rates, and collection points (e.g., cultivation vs. wholesale) of excise taxes on recreational cannabis across states.

Methods

We constructed a novel cannabis excise tax measure in $ per flower oz, which is comparable across different tax bases. Specifically, ad valorem excise taxes based on wholesale and retail prices and THC-based taxes were converted to excise taxes ($) per oz using monthly state-level prices between 2014 and 2023. We also calculated tax incidence (i.e., taxes as a percentage of the retail prices) and analyzed its association with tax bases and converted taxes using ordinary least square (OLS) regressions.

Results

The mean and median values of converted excise taxes on recreational cannabis flowers were $37.93 and $37.55 per oz, respectively. The tax incidence for recreational cannabis was 18 %, lower than the incidence of e-cigarette and cigarette excise taxes. During 2014–2023, real cannabis taxes and prices have decreased significantly over time. In addition, tax bases and converted excise taxes were not associated with tax incidence.

Conclusion

As the prices and taxes of recreational cannabis continue to decrease, tax incidence remains low and is not significantly associated with tax bases or rates, posing concerns about whether the current levels of excise taxes are large enough in reducing cannabis use. Future research shall investigate this matter using converted cannabis taxes empirically. In addition, the wide range of tax magnitude and incidence across states suggests that tax avoidance opportunities may exist for recreational cannabis users who live in higher-taxed states to purchase in neighboring states with lower taxes.

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美国的休闲大麻消费税：为实证分析构建可比税收措施。

背景：截至 2023 年 8 月，美国已有 20 个州建立了娱乐性大麻零售市场，并对这些产品征收消费税。然而，各州对休闲大麻征收消费税的税基（即征税对象的特征，如价格、重量和效力）、税率和征收点（如种植与批发）存在很大差异：我们构建了一种新的大麻消费税衡量标准，以每花盎司美元为单位，在不同税基之间具有可比性。具体而言，我们使用 2014 年至 2023 年间各州的月度价格，将基于批发和零售价格的从价消费税以及基于四氢大麻酚的消费税转换为每盎司消费税（美元）。我们还计算了税收发生率（即税收占零售价格的百分比），并使用普通最小二乘法（OLS）回归分析了税收发生率与税基和换算后税收的关系：休闲大麻花的折算消费税的平均值和中位值分别为每盎司 37.93 美元和 37.55 美元。娱乐用大麻的税收发生率为 18%，低于电子烟和香烟消费税的发生率。2014-2023 年间，实际大麻税收和价格随时间推移大幅下降。此外，税基和转换后的消费税与税收发生率无关：随着娱乐用大麻的价格和税收持续下降，税收发生率仍然很低，并且与税基或税率没有显著关联，这让人担心目前的消费税水平是否足以减少大麻的使用。未来的研究应利用换算后的大麻税对这一问题进行实证调查。此外，各州的税额和税率差异很大，这表明居住在高税率州的休闲大麻使用者可能存在避税机会，到邻近的低税率州购买大麻。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

International Journal of Drug Policy SUBSTANCE ABUSE-

CiteScore

7.80

自引率

11.40%

发文量

307

审稿时长

62 days

期刊介绍： The International Journal of Drug Policy provides a forum for the dissemination of current research, reviews, debate, and critical analysis on drug use and drug policy in a global context. It seeks to publish material on the social, political, legal, and health contexts of psychoactive substance use, both licit and illicit. The journal is particularly concerned to explore the effects of drug policy and practice on drug-using behaviour and its health and social consequences. It is the policy of the journal to represent a wide range of material on drug-related matters from around the world.