Nevada legal pot sales hit record $41 million in March 2018

CARSON CITY, Nev. — Legal marijuana sales in Nevada hit a record in March, topping $41 million.

Taxation Director Bill Anderson said that pushes total marijuana tax revenues to $48.97 million through the first nine months of the fiscal year. That total is just shy of the total projected tax revenues for the entire fiscal year (July 2017 through June 2018).

Anderson said $18.5 million in tax revenue was generated by the Wholesale Marijuana Tax that’s paid by cultivators of both medical and recreational pot. The lion’s share was generated by the Retail Marijuana Tax that comes from sales of recreational marijuana — $30.47 million. That means taxes generated by recreational sales have already exceeded the total projected for the fiscal year by $4 million.

For March alone, tax collections were $7.09 million, significantly higher than the second largest month of collections in February, at $5.95 million.

“March numbers continue to point to a strong likelihood that Nevada will close out the fiscal year this June with much more robust marijuana revenue collections than anticipated,” said Anderson in a statement released May 23.

Through nine months of the fiscal year, Anderson said total pot sales were $385.99 million.

The Wholesale tax rate is 15 percent and revenues from that tax along with fees, penalties and assessments go to local governments and the state K-12 education budget. The retail tax is 10 percent and those revenues go into the state’s Rainy Day Fund.