Question 1: How many businesses in Texas are selling hemp products?
According to
Whitney Economics, there’s over 8,500 hemp businesses in Texas employing over 53,000 people. Over 40,000 of those jobs could be lost if the Senate bill banning almost all THC becomes law.
Hemp is made from cannabis plants but has less than 0.3% of THC - the ingredient that can intoxicate you. If something has more than 0.3% THC, it’s marijuana and it’s illegal in Texas.
The bill that passed the Senate would make thing stricter and ban almost every product containing THC - even if it’s less than 0.3%
Question 2: How much tax does the state make from these sales?
Hemp businesses in Texas are expected to make $5.5 billion of sales this year which would mean $268 million of revenue for the state in sales taxes.
That’s already a lot of sales. Even if Texas legalized marijuana sometime in the future, it's unlikely we would see the industry double or triple compared to what’s already being sold from hemp products. California sells roughly about
$5 billion of recreational marijuana in a year.
Question 3: How much tax money do other states get where marijuana is legal?
24 states have fully legalized marijuana.
11 allow only medical use.
Four totally illegal.
Then some like Texas with more detailed rules on what’s legal and not.
The 24 states where it’s legal collected
$4.2 billion in total taxes on the sale of cannabis in 2023. Most of them charge sales tax on it and then also an excise tax between 8 and 20%. Washington state charges 37% tax, that’s the highest.
Question 4: So what does that mean for Texas?
We looked at New York and California as comparisons since they have huge populations like Texas does.
California brought in $263 million last year with its 15% tax. Some smaller states like Colorado and Washington have managed to collect $400-600 million per year because the taxes are high but there’s still a lot of sales being made.
But if you look at New York, their strict rules mean not many stores have opened, and many of the ones that did are selling their products without a license. So the state only collected $21 million in taxes in 2023.
In Texas, lawmakers are more likely to place lots of regulations on the market. That limits how much money the state can collect in taxes.
But the lawmakers pushing for more regulation say it will actually save the state money. State Sen. Charles Perry
said the state will eventually spend “billions” out of its health budget treating addiction and behavioral health issues if the state ever legalized marijuana.