[420 Girl]

HARTFORD - Few people seem all that high on using marijuana sales to help towns and cities amid tough budget times.

Municipalities are asking the legislature to allow them to tax more than just property and real estate sales meals, retail sales, hotel stays, for example.

But taxing marijuana was not what local leaders have in mind.

State Sen. Robert J. Kane, R-Watertown, can't understand why his idea isn't getting more support.

"Everyone but the drug dealers would benefit," said Kane, the legislation's lead sponsor.

This is the second year that Kane has pushed his pot tax plan. The first bill got snuffed out in the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee. This year's version is smoldering in the Senate.

Kane is looking to exploit a 1991 law that imposes a tax on illegal marijuana sales and establishes penalties for not paying the tax. It was enacted to provide another avenue for seizing the assets of drug dealers.

Kane is selling his legislation as a way to discourage and penalize drug dealers while also benefiting law-abiding taxpayers.

His other big selling point: It creates a financial incentive for towns and cities to step up enforcement because municipalities will collect revenues from local drug arrests.

Marijuana taxes, however, may not provide much of a bonanza to cash-strapped communities. The state government collected only $60,000 two years ago - the most recent figure available from the Department of Revenue Services.

Kane said he expects the dollar figure will mount as his legislation makes it possible for more municipalities to collect taxes on illegal marijuana.

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