Blog Stage 7

Texas is dealing with a large budget shortfall, and is currently having trouble closing the gap. Many are trying to figure out whether to cut spending, or increase revenue to solve this problem. There is light discussion and debate among citizens about legalizing marijuana, like California has done for medical purposes. Of course Texas politicians haven't considered this route of increasing revenue very seriously but I think there is some truth to this argument.

Now to begin things I am not a personal user of marijuana, morally, I do not think it is something that needs to be used in the manner that people utilize it for. However, economically it makes perfect sense to legalize medical marijuana in Texas. People are going to smoke marijuana whether it is legal or illegal, why not have them pay a state tax every time they make a purchase? Since Texas does not levy a personal income tax, state sales tax makes up the largest portion of its revenues; Texas cannot afford to let a taxable substance like marijuana stay in the black market unaccounted for.

To close, I don't agree with the abuse of marijuana, but whether it is legal or illegal people are going to continue to buy and use it, so why shouldn't Texas collect a tax on it?