In February of this year Democratic Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, San Francisco, authored legislation to legalize marijuana outright. AB-390 would legalize the sale, possession and cultivation of marijuana and it’s derivatives. It would also ban local and state law enforcement from assisting Federal law enforcement in raids on growers, or dealers.

Earlier this month in response to Ammiano’s bill, the legislative and research department of the State Board of Equalization issued a "Summary Revenue" report. The Board of Equalization claims marijuana legalization would generate $392 million from sales tax, and another $990 million from a proposed $50 an ounce fee.

Let’s take a closer look at how the BOE arrived at those numbers.

On page six of the BOE report, (on the left) under “Background, Methodology, and Assumptions, they list a report by Jon Gettman titled “Marijuana Production in the United States. (2006)

In fact, as you can see, Gettman’s report is the only one listed.

It would appear that the Board Of Equalization thought highly enough of Gettman's report to list it as the sole source of information listed under their heading "Background, Methodology, and Assumptions."