Colorado on track to collect $105M in pot taxes for 2015.

DENVER - New numbers confirm what many of us already know: Colorado's pot industry is growing like a… well, you know.
          
Tax revenues from marijuana are up nearly 100 percent.

County by county, new numbers from the Colorado Department of Revenue tell the tale.

In Denver County, revenue jumped from $954,000 in May 2014 to $1.5 million in May 2015.          
          
In Boulder County, revenues jumped from $194,000 to $366,000 over the same period. Jefferson County saw a jump of $122,000 to $226,000.
          
"Colorado is leading the way," said Matt Binder, who is visiting from Hawaii and said his state could benefit greatly from marijuana tax revenue.

"I don't like all that money going to gangs and cartels. I'd much rather see it go to the state. I'm sure we could use it," Binder said.

"People are coming here every day to talk to me and to talk to other business owners about what we're doing here," said Jamie Perino, owner of Euflora marijuana shop downtown. "We've done it right."

The numbers are staggering. According to the state, marijuana tax revenues jumped from $25 million in the first five months of 2014 to $44 million in the first five months of this year.

"It's not surprising, especially when the people are responsible for bringing this in," said Miguel Lopez, chief organizer of the Denver 4/20 rally.

"With that kind of revenue, you could take states that are really in the red and help pull them out," said Perino.

According to the Dept. of Revenue - $23 million in tax revenues will go to fund public schools this year. Revenues from June 2015 alone hit $3 million for schools.
          
"The wave of change is slowly starting to take shape," said Perino. "Colorado set a really good precedence within the U.S. We can only hope that the government is doing the right thing with it."

The tax revenues that don't go to schools drop into the state's general fund. A smaller percentage is distributed to cities that have pot shops.
          

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