California’s Cannabis Tax Cut Underwhelms
Too little, too late. That seems to be the consensus about California’s big cannabis tax cut, which went into effect July 1. It eliminated the cultivation tax, but the 15% tax on retail is still fully intact and could go up in the future to offset any loss in revenue.
“From early on, the administration — and I’ll never fully understand why — decided that we needed to provide comprehensive relief to cultivators, but far less relief to retailers,” Sen. Anthony Wiener (D-San Francisco) told Politico.
The tax cut offers some “meager crumbs with the hopes that they will remain quiet,” added Steven Bradford (D-Gardena).
There is hope that more relief will eventually come. Amy O’Gorman Jenkins of Precision Advocacy said she hopes a boost in sales and tax revenue would provide momentum.
In addition to eliminating the cultivation tax, the bill allocates $20 million to help cities and counties establish retail cannabis markets.
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