Cannabis tax revenues will fund a Universal Basic Income program
- Jason Beck
- May 12
- 2 min read
The City of Albuquerque in New Mexico, USA, has approved the use of tax revenue from recreational cannabis sales to fund a Universal Basic Income (UBI) program for low-income residents..
The initiative, sponsored by Councillor Klarissa Peña, builds on the Marijuana Equity and Community Reinvestment Fund established in 2023 to support communities “negatively impacted by the criminalisation of marijuana.”
“The first cohort will consist of 80 households that will receive monthly guaranteed income support of $750 for three years. The second cohort will consist of 20 families and up to 40 opportunity youth,” a press release from the Office of Equity and Inclusion said.
The programme is expected to raise $4.02 million per year in tax revenue from cannabis sales, which will be split equally between the Office of Equity and Inclusion for the basic income fund, and the Department of Health, Housing and Homelessness for seven programs focussing on youth services that offer substance use prevention, treatment and recovery services.
“This money is aside from our budget, it’s a set amount of money that we’re going to be getting every year dedicated to really trying to achieve justice where there was injustice,” Peña said.
The UBI programme will target families in the International District and the city’s Westside, specifically those with children attending Whittier Elementary School and Carlos Rey Elementary School. These areas were selected because they are “underrepresented, impoverished neighbourhoods,” according to Associate Chief Administrative Officer Carla Martinez.
Families who participate in the basic income program will not have their spending monitored, they will not have to earn less than a certain amount to receive their income, nor will they have their immigration statuses checked.
“This isn’t a handout, this is a hand up to families who don’t qualify a lot of times for regular entitlement programs. We can really take a stance on poverty, because that is the root cause of a lot of the things that we’re facing in our community when it comes to homelessness, crime,” said councillor Nichole Rogers.
A recent report by Transform found that the UK could see an additional £1.5 billion in revenue and savings from cannabis legalisation. Money that “could fund 18 million more GP appointments, free school meals for all the UK primary schools, or reverse the cut in winter fuel payments for pensioners,” the researchers said.
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