April 29, 2013 12:41PM 

# Tax Revenues from Legal Marijuana Overstated 

By [Caleb O. Brown](https://www.cato.org/people/caleb-o-brown) 

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There are plenty of reasons to legalize marijuana. But one that has received perhaps *too much* attention is tax revenue. In [this Cato Daily Podcast](https://www.cato.org/multimedia/daily-podcast/tax-revenues-legal-marijuana-overstated) ([Subscribe! via iTunes](https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/cato-daily-podcast/id158961219)), senior fellow [Jeff Miron](https://www.cato.org/people/jeffrey-miron) argues that tax revenue estimates are simply too rosy.

Miron’s 2010 report, [The Budgetary Impact of Ending Drug Prohibition](https://www.cato.org/publications/white-paper/budgetary-impact-ending-drug-prohibition), estimates that the overall fiscal impact (including tax revenue) of legalizing marijuana nationwide could be tens of billions of dollars, the revenue boost that legalization supporters trumpet is overstated.

##### Related Tags 

[Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) 

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