Colorado approves letting state keep pot taxes

Colorado voters have agreed to allow the state to keep $66 million worth of marijuana taxes despite an accounting error that could have forced the government to refund the money to taxpayers and pot growers.

An error in a pot tax measure approved two years ago led to the ballot measure that passed Tuesday. The error required the state to ask voters again if it could keep the revenue collected last year from a 10 percent sales tax and 15 percent excise tax on recreational pot.

The vote means the state won’t have to refund the $66 million. If Proposition BB failed, the 10 percent sales tax also would have been temporarily cut to almost nothing.

The state will put the money toward school construction and educational and anti-drug efforts.