Citing the lack of potential tax revenue vs.  expenses, the City of Kennewick Tuesday evening voted to permanently keep people from getting their weed.

The temporary ban in effect that will expire in October, will be replaced by a permanent ban, the City Council and Mayor Steve Young said the tax revenue generated by the pot shops just wouldn't be worth it.

When selling I-502 to voters, the writers and supporters painted a rosy revenue picture,  promising anywhere from $450 million to half a billion in tax revenue annually, according to sources such as the Tacoma News Tribune, and a pro-marijuana blog site called The Daily Chronic.

However,  in the months following legalization in the fall of 2012,   new estimates and projections - even those done by pro-pot supporters - showed the state would probably bring in less than half of the tax revenue originally projected.  Since stores have opened this year,  those numbers are projected to be even lower, perhaps only 1/3 or a quarter of the original projected tax revenue.

Kennewick would have to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars to create an entirely new set of codes and statutes to cover every aspect of having marijuana stores, and the expected tax revenue they would get from the state (pot taxes are supposed to be shared between cities who have stores)  wouldn't be worth the expense or effort.

 In addition, Benton County voters, along with Franklin, Adams, Grant, Yakima, and other Eastern Washington counties,  rejected legalization by an average of 60-plus percent.

The process has run anything but smoothly, with countless delays, legal challenges, logistical issues, and the astronomical tax rates won't do anything to cut into the illegal "black market" sales of pot.

Following the City Council ban,  a lawyer who represents Americanna Weed LLC said they will file a lawsuit, much like pot store licensees have done in Fife and Wenatchee.  The owner of Americanna had planned to open  a pot store in Kennewick after having been granted a license.

The majority of the bans being put in place came after Attorney General Bob Ferguson pointed out a "silent loophole" in the language of I-502 that he says doesn't prevent cities or counties from enacting their own bans within their own city limits.

 

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