SALEM, Ore. — The Oregon Department of Revenue announced Tuesday it received $5.3 million in marijuana tax payments in January. The grand total of $65.4 million received in the year since Oregon started taxing pot sales is blowing the original estimate out of the water.
In January 2016, the state started collecting a 25-percent tax from medical marijuana dispensaries’ recreational sales. A year later, recreational pot shops — which first opened in Oregon five months ago — began charging a 17 percent tax. Meanwhile, dispensaries stopped selling recreational pot.
