Could California raise over a billion dollars by legalizing marijuana?

Regulating and taxing marijuana in California could generate the state somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.4 billion in revenue, at least according to an analysis released yesterday by tax officials in the state. The State Board of Equalization report has estimated that, when a $50 per ounce fee is imposed, marijuana sales would bring in $990 million as well as $392 million in tax.

A bill was introduced by Tom Ammiano, a San Francisco Democratic Assemblyman, in February that would allow those over 21 to be able to posses, grow, and sell marijuana legally. He is one of the main people currently pushing the legalization of marijuana to help bridge the state’s $26 billion budget deficit.

“It defies reason to propose closing parks and eliminating vital services for the poor while this potential revenue is available,” Ammiano said in a statement.

In it’s current state, the bill could not start collecting taxes until the federal government decides to legalize marijuana (which will likely never happen), but Ammiano has said that there are plans to remove that provision in the bill. The bill also states that the $50 per ounce fee is to be used for drug education and rehab programs.

The figures weren’t created out of thin air, the Equalization Board went through law enforcement and academic studies to find out that, in California each year, about 16 million ounces (500 tons) of marijuana is consumed. If it became legal, that number would likely increase by about 30% because legalization would lead to lower prices.

“That’s one reason why we look at multiple reports from multiple sources — so that no one agenda is considered to be the deciding or determining data,” said board spokeswoman Anita Gore.

If the bill is passed, it would likely increase tensions between the state and the federal government over the black-market drug. There has been tension between the two governments ever since voters passed a ballot measure in 1996 which legalized marijuana for medical use.

Hearings on the bill are expected to begin this fall.

About 443,000 signatures are necessary to place The Tax, Regulate and Control Cannabis Act on the November 2010 ballot. The measure would repeal all state and local laws that criminalize marijuana.