Labeaume will fight for the third of the revenue of the cannabis

Taïeb Moalla

Tuesday, 12 December 2017 11:10

UPDATE
Tuesday, 12 December 2017 11:56

Look at this article

Anticipating safety problems and social related to the legalisation of cannabis from July 1, 2018, Régis Labeaume promises that he will deliver “a battle,” fierce, so that municipalities receive one-third of the total revenue generated by the various taxes dedicated to the pot.

The mayor of Quebec city said he is “pleased” to learn that the federal government will give the provinces a minimum of 75 % of the revenues of the future excise tax on cannabis. It is a new tax that will add to the GST and the QST.

Even if it is not able at this time to quantify the sums involved, Mr. Labeaume claims and 33 % of the total revenues of the excise tax, the QST and the future of the québec Society of cannabis (SQC).

“It made a lot of money all three. We want a third of it all. I think it will not be easy because the bureaucracy at the provincial level does not tend to want to share their income (…) We think that this will not be so obvious as that. It was a battle obvious to lead,” argued the mayor of Quebec city, Tuesday morning, impromptu press.

As these are “the municipalities that are going to be picking up with the problems” related to the consumption of cannabis, the mayor argues that his claim there is nothing “greedy”. “It’s not just the security. There are social problems associated with it. It has been excavated and you can see that the poor become poorer”, he reiterated.

The City does not taxera not directly

The mayor of Quebec city has also closed the door to the scenario according to which the power of taxation be assigned by the senior governments to the municipalities. Just as is the case for the excise tax on gasoline that it refuses to charge “by principle”, Mr. Labeaume don’t want the cities have to directly tax the citizens on the cannabis.

“The fear I have is that they say: “We are going to allow you to be taxed”. The answer is: I don taxerai not. In Quebec, forget it. It’s going to be a fight. If they do that, it will break loose. We will not accept that they allow us to be taxed”, said the mayor.