First year of legal Nevada pot nets $70 million in tax revenue; $530 million in overall sales

CARSON CITY, Nev. — The first full fiscal year of legal marijuana sales generated $69.8 million in tax revenue for Nevada.

That is well above the $50.3 million state officials predicted pot sales would generate, with the last four months of collections all more than $6.5 million. June tax collections topped $7.1 million.

Total sales of marijuana and marijuana products including edibles totaled $529.9 million for the year. Of that, $424.9 million was from adult-use sales, which generated $42.5 million in tax collections from the 10 percent Retail Marijuana Tax. The rest came from medical marijuana sales.

The 15 percent wholesale tax generated $27.3 million in tax collections through the end of the fiscal year June 30.

Taxation officials say $27.5 million of the tax collections were deposited to the Distributive School Account that funds K-12 education in Nevada. All $42.5 million in Retail Marijuana Tax revenues, meanwhile, were deposited in the state’s Rainy Day Fund.

A spokesman for the department said not only did the sale of pot exceed revenue projections, it was successful from a regulatory standpoint.

“We have not experienced any major hiccups or compliance issues and our enforcement staff has worked diligently to make sure these businesses understand and comply with the laws and regulations that govern them,” department officials said in a statement.

They said they expect to see continued growth in the industry in fiscal 2019.

As of June 30, there were 64 licensed medical marijuana dispensaries in Nevada, 61 of them also licensed to sell adults recreational marijuana.