Notice two important things. First, these taxes bring in a lot of money. Wolf estimates $60 million per year from the "trooper tax." The auditor general estimates that a tax on recreational and medicinal marijuana could bring in $200 million per year. Second, relative to Pennsylvania's spending, these taxes collect next to nothing. Pennsylvania's state government spends $80 billion per year, or more than $200 million per day. At that rate, the annual trooper tax would keep state government humming along for a grand total of seven hours. The e-cigarette tax that put one-third of vape shops out of business throughout the state added less than $10 million to the state's coffers last year — enough to keep Harrisburg in business for all of 65 minutes. For a little more than an hour's worth of state spending, our legislators permanently closed more than a hundred businesses.