How much does your town make from marijuana tax?
Cannabis tax revenue is stalling statewide in Illinois, but communities still see a tax benefit. See how much your town took in during the past 12 months.
When someone buys some of Illinois’ highly taxed marijuana, local communities get a share of the revenue.
Use the table below to see how much your community received in fiscal year 2024, which just ended June 30, from the Illinois Cannabis Use Tax.
Communities can add their own cannabis taxes, which DuPage County tried to do in 2019 by adding a 3% sales tax on municipal pot sales – only to discover the ordinance had never been filed with the Illinois Department of Revenue. They missed out on millions.
Illinois’ statewide budget support from cannabis tax revenue, while still high, is slowing down in terms of growth.
State revenue growth in the first two years of legalization was robust, but since then monthly revenue has bounced around at $20 million to $23 million. That’s a decent haul for four weeks, as long as lawmakers don’t expect the checks to keep growing.
The flattening revenue hints the novelty around legal cannabis has worn off, especially because Illinoisans face some of the highest cannabis taxes in the nation.
Illinois taxes based on the THC percentage, with potent cannabis products getting a higher tax of up to 25%. Sales taxes are also added, meaning the price of a potent product in Chicago gets up to 41.25% higher.
Local governments can use their shares to fund a variety of local services, including prevention efforts relating to driving under the influence of cannabis and public safety campaigns.
Michigan and Missouri, both with legal cannabis at lower tax rates, likely played a role in the stunted growth for Illinois and local governments.
State lawmakers should not think more is coming, or tax more and spend more as they did in the state’s record $53.1 billion budget for fiscal year 2025. Cannabis revenue apparently has hit a ceiling, which isn’t a problem unless lawmakers make it one.