Over the first five months of legal REC, governments across Canada collected some $186M in excise taxes, federal Goods and Services Taxes, and Harmonized Sales Tax including provincial sales taxes.
- Provincial shares of the $97.9M excise tax revenues totalled $79.1M, while Ottawa kept $18.8M. ?
- Ottawa collected $35.5M in GST, while provinces collected $52.7M in sales taxes.
- Excise tax revenue increased 12.4% between the final quarter of 2018 and the first quarter of 2019.
- Numbers aren’t as high as some predicted, which Conference Board of Canada economist Robyn Gibbard attributed to the difficult REC rollout.
- Gibbard, in a statement, said, “We think that as the kinks are worked out, governments can expect strong growth in revenues from cannabis sales going forward.”
Reuters
