Are Nevada Democrats spending marijuana taxes on something other than education?

Nevada’s recreational marijuana tax revenue is being expended as called for in law. There are two excise taxes on the sale of recreational marijuana: a 15% wholesale tax, which was included in the original ballot question and is primarily paid by dispensaries, and a 10% retail tax added by the 2017 Legislature that is primarily paid by consumers.

The law originally allocated the wholesale tax to education and the retail tax to Nevada’s “rainy day fund,” a government savings account set aside for difficult economic times. In 2019, the Democrat-controlled legislature passed a bill shifting the retail tax allocation from the rainy day fund to education. The vast majority of marijuana revenues are now spent on education.

In the most recent fiscal year, Nevada’s retail marijuana sales were just under $1 billion, generating $147 million for the state education system.