The 5% excise tax is my only problem with the bill; even a one-penny-per-ton tax demands to have a big expensive bureaucracy handle its administration.
But shall we let perfect be the enemy of good?
The devil is in the details, and we have a strong hand with the landslide for reform last Election Day.
That 5% could only apply to imports and interstate, hence just MSOs (Multi-State Operators, aka: “Big Weed,” large corporate marijuana operations, often publicly-traded companies).
A federal excise tax on only imports and interstate sales of regulated marijuana would give locals an advantage, as it discourages not ban interstate sales of marijuana.
Until the Senate is flipped, almost all of its provisions could be accomplished by Executive Order by President Biden. In my perfect world Harris takes on criminal justice reform, which touches so many Americans, so deeply. From asset forfeiture to minimum mandatories to marijuana legalization, who better to redeem her karma than the effective former prosecutor from California?
TL;DR: text of Kamala Harris’ Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement Act of 2019 or the MORE Act of 2019: https://therichardrosereport.com/the-tldr-of-the-more-act/