Baker not ready to commit to marijuana tax rate

Gov. Charlie Baker is not committing to a House proposal to hike the tax rate on recreational marijuana to 28 percent, saying it is unclear to him if it is too high, or low, to cover the costs of regulating the state’s legalized pot industry.

“I don’t know if this number would meet that test or not,” Baker told reporters after an unrelated event in Beverly yesterday.

“We can always change the tax rate. We can move the tax rate up, we can move the tax rate down,” he later added. “What I’ve said all along is the tax needs to be high enough to cover the cost of administering and overseeing and regulating recreational marijuana in Massachusetts.”

Baker’s comments came as House leaders abruptly canceled today’s anticipated vote on the bill amid what Speaker of the House Robert A. DeLeo cited as “procedural” issues and unspecified concerns over the bill’s language.

The bill faced blistering criticism from advocates and state Sen. Pat Jehlen, co-chair of the committee that produced it, particularly over the proposed tax rate, though DeLeo said he still believes the overall bill is “terrific.”

“I think it’s important with a bill of this magnitude that we try to get it right or as close to right the first time. I’d rather do that than try to rush it through,” DeLeo said, adding that he expects the bill to emerge again soon. “It won’t be any later than next week.”

The tax rate will likely remain a leading issue as the bill works its way to Baker, presumably by July 1.

Baker, who campaigned on fiscal constraint and a nonew-tax pledge, indicated he is open to adjusting the tax rate on recreational weed, which was set at 12 percent by a ballot question passed in November. But he said it is “not clear either” whether that figure is enough to cover the state’s cost to oversee the new industry after it begins sprouting shops, perhaps as early as July 2018.

The omnibus bill raised the tax rate to 28 percent, including a 16.75 percent excise tax and a 5 percent local tax on top of the state’s regular 6.25 percent sales tax.