The mayor of New York City says the rise of tax revenue from marijuana sales “has not been as rapid as the expansion in store openings” because of competition among suppliers and low cannabis prices. But with the market’s expected expansion, the city is anticipating continual growth over the coming years.
In his 2027 preliminary budget that was released on Tuesday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) laid out the state of the cannabis industry, with tax revenue projections reaching $43 million by fiscal year 2030.
For the current fiscal year, the city expects to bring in $24 million in marijuana tax dollars, which marks a 33.3 percent increase compared to the prior year, the budget shows. That’s estimated to grow to $33 million in fiscal year 2027.
The projected cannabis earnings significantly outpace those for cigarette taxes, which are pegged to a consistent haul of $12 million per year.
“Year-to-date collections have grown approximately 50 percent over last year,” the mayor’s budget says. “On average, eight licensed dispensaries have opened each month in the city since July 2025, bringing the total to 211 stores at the end of December, more than double the 105 at the end of the prior December.”
“Collections growth has not been as rapid as the expansion in store openings because of competition among suppliers as well as lower cannabis prices,” it continues. “Sales per store in NYC have been dropping each quarter since the end of calendar year 2025.”
But those declines are expected to be offset “as new dispensaries expand accessibility to cannabis and existing locations expand their customer bases.”
“NYC currently has approximately 50 dispensary licenses being processed by the Office of Cannabis Management,” the budget document says. “Adult use cannabis tax revenue is forecast to average growth of 9.4 percent from 2028 through 2030 as the market continues to reach maturity.”
Without specifically discussing marijuana tax issues, Mamdani said in a press release that there are “two paths to bridge the city’s inherited budget gap.”
“The first path is the most sustainable and fairest: raising taxes on the wealthiest and corporations, and ending the drain by fixing the imbalance between what the City provides the State and what we receive in return,” he said. “If we do not go down the first path, the City will be forced to go down a second, more harmful path of property taxes and raiding our reserves—weakening our long-term fiscal footing and placing the onus for resolving this crisis on the backs of working and middle-class New Yorkers.”
“We do not want to have to turn to such drastic measures to balance our budget,” he said. “But, faced with no other choice, we will be forced to.”
At the state level, meanwhile, the governor of New York recently signed legislation into law that revises zoning requirements for licensed marijuana businesses, granting more flexibility to retailers located within certain distances of schools and places of worship.
The bills, passed by the House and Senate and signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) last week, also grandfather in more than 150 existing retailers whose locations were retroactively found to be out of compliance with zoning requirements that created a buffer between cannabis dispensaries and schools and churches.
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Meanwhile, last month New York officials released a set of reports providing a 2025 end-of-year status update on the evolution of the state’s medical and adult-use marijuana markets—touting record sales, revenue hauls for state coffers, licensing approvals, equity initiatives and more.
All told, retail cannabis sales in New York have exceeded $2.5 billion since the passage of recreational legalization, including $1.6 billion that was generated last year alone as of November. Also, licensed storefronts nearly doubled from 261 in 2024 to 556 in 2025.
The OCM annual report also notes that Hochul signed legislation into law that expands the state’s medical cannabis program by improving patient access and “updating the program framework to better meet patient needs statewide.”
The legislation the governor signed also grants reciprocity to out-of-state residents, streamlines the patient certification process and allows adults 18 and older to grow their own cannabis plants for therapeutic use.
Separately, given confusion within the marketplace about timelines for provisional licenses, regulators said they will be extending the renewal deadline for conditional adult-use until December 31, 2026.
“This extension provides licensees additional time to secure viable locations and move toward full licensure,” OCM said. “It will also apply to any provisional licenses issued between September 9, 2025, and December 30, 2025, ensuring clarity and consistency for all provisional license holders.”
Last July, meanwhile, New York officials announced the first round of grants under a $5 million program to help retail marijuana businesses owned by justice-involved people cover startup costs.
Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.
The post NYC Mayor Mamdani Projects Increased Marijuana Tax Revenue As New Shops Open appeared first on Marijuana Moment.
