Kansas' Money Solution?

It's well known now that Kansas Republican Governor Sam Brownback and all his political party cohorts over in Topeka at the state capitol screwed up their state's budget with "trickle down economics" ideas--that is, slashing tax rates and then waiting for tax coffers to fill, instead, because business would (somehow) rather magically appear and, they said, even increase.

Now, we see, yet again, how this idea is a terrible and non-working idea. Instead of bringing in more money, it actually does just the opposite. Kansas now needs approximately 280 million dollars for its budget because of this terribly failed Republican idea, imposed on Kansas and Kansans.

So, a possible solution?

Perhaps Kansas needs to look no further than next door, to Colorado:

Crime down and revenue up in Colorado since start of Marijuana Legalization

Crime in Colorado’s capital city, Denver, has dropped by more than a tenth, local law enforcement data reveals, and the state as a whole is expected to collect around $30 million in revenue this year as a result of weed taxes.

Economically speaking, rolling back the weed ban in Colorado has done wonders as well. The Associated Press reported this week that nearly $19 million in recreational marijuana was sold throughout the state in just the month of March, with $1.9 million of that going immediately to Denver to be divvied up by lawmakers to various state programs.

By the end of the year, weed taxes are expected to net Colorado around $30 million, which as of this week will be used on a plan that puts that money into mostly child drug use prevention and outreach, the AP reported, which means more school nurses and public education efforts funded by marijuana excises. The New York Times reported this week that those taxes have so far provided the state with around $12.6 million. According to Reuters, the latest year-end projection in total revenue generated is around $98 million—exceeding the state’s original estimate by 40 percent.

Would it be a total panacea for the Jayhawks? No, certainly not. Colorado is a much more populated state so the revenue wouldn't be as large. But could it help? Colorado's example seems to show it would, yes.

It would bring in more money for the state and it could free up the police to work on other, more important issues and problems, including a reduction in crime and crime rates.

At any rate, Kansas needs solutions to their money problems, again, thanks to Sam Brownback and all the Republicans in the Statehouse and all those who elected them into office. 

This could be a not-so-small part of that solution and get the side benefit of possibly lowering crime, too.