Michigan voters have a clever plan to help pull the state out its economic crisis – tax recreational marijuana instead of raising the state sales tax.

A recent Survey USA poll indicates that the proposed tax hike approved by the state legislature in 2014 will not be met with much enthusiasm when voters head to the polls in May. Interestingly, voters believe the state should nix this idea altogether and simply legalize and tax weed as a means for increasing state funding.

Nearly 50 percent of the respondents said they did not support raising the sales tax to pay for road repairs and education. Yet, 64 percent said they would support an alternate plan that includes the legalization of marijuana. Only 28 percent said they would not support this measure.

“It’s not surprising that Michigan voters would rather tax and regulate cannabis like alcohol to pay for schools and roads, rather than increase sale tax,” said Reid Murdoch, director of a Michigan chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy “Cannabis regulation is a bipartisan issue in Michigan, and would be a major windfall as our state struggles to fund its schools.”

Michigan could generate over $120 million per year by simply maintaining its 6 percent sales tax and imposing a 15 percent excise tax on recreational marijuana, according to a 2014 NerdWallet study.

More From Club 93.7