REAPING from reefers

FEDS TO PASS AROUND POT - TAX REVENUES WITH PROVINCES

Federal government to give provinces 75 per cent of pot tax revenues with their own take capped at $100 million

The federal government has agreed to give the provinces and territories a 75 per cent share of the tax revenues from the sale of legalized marijuana, a portion of which will be meted out to cities and towns to help them defray the cost of making pot legal across Canada.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced the two-year agreement Monday after a day-long meeting with his provincial and territorial counterparts.

Morneau says Ottawa will retain the remaining 25 per cent share to a maximum of $100 million a year, with any balance over and above that limit going to the provinces and territories.

The larger share, he added, will allow the provinces to “fairly deal with their costs and so they can work with municipalities,” which had been asking for at least a one-third portion of the revenue to help ease the burden of costs like law enforcement.

Morneau said that over the first two years, the federal government expects legalized pot to generate only about $400 million in tax revenues, adding that the ministers are scheduled to gather again a year from now to assess how the framework is working.

“Our expectation is that by keeping prices low, we will be able to get rid of the black market. However, that will happen over time,” Morneau said during a closing news conference, his counterparts lined up behind him.

“Our estimates suggest that the size of the taxation revenue is roughly ... about up to $400 million for the first couple of years. What we’ve agreed at our table today is that we need to come back together; we’re going to come back together in December 2018 to look at how the market’s working, and how the federal government, provinces and municipalities are dealing with this change.

“Of course, we’ll stay very much on top of this, but after two years it’s time to rethink the approach to make sure we’re getting it right.”

All 14 jurisdictions at the table agreed to the key principles reached at the meeting, Morneau said, calling it a “very good outcome.”

The original model put forward by the federal government proposed an even 50-50 split, a plan that was immediately shot down by the provinces, many of which wondered aloud what sort of costs Ottawa would be incurring to deserve such a share.

Earlier Monday, Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa said the federal Liberal government had successfully made the case that it, too, would have costs, but was showing flexibility on related revenue and cost-sharing questions.

After a meeting with his Atlantic counterparts in Halifax, Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil let slip that a two-year deal had been reached, and that provinces would have the ability to include a markup above and beyond existing taxation levels.

Ottawa’s initial estimates suggested the total pot of tax revenue from marijuana sales could eventually reach $1 billion per year.

“If there is a markup that a respective province wants to do it would be outside of that taxation model, so that was the flexibility that we as a province were looking for and I would say indeed it was what we were hearing across the country,” McNeil said.

“The two-year window will give each of us the time to go back to the table and say this is actually what policing is costing and this is what the education component is.”