Posted on 11/22/2019 10:23:10 PM PST by BenLurkin
Hefty marijuana taxes that can approach 50 percent in some communities have been blamed for pushing shoppers into Californias tax-free illegal market, which is thriving. Industry analysts estimate that $3 are spent in the illegal market for every $1 in the legal one.
The group said the higher taxes that will take effect Jan. 1 will make it even worse for a legal industry struggling under the weight of heavy regulation and fees, local bans on pot sales and growing and a booming underground marketplace.
Josh Drayton of the cannabis association predicted that an eighth-ounce purchase of marijuana buds, typically priced around $40 to $45, would be pushed up to $50 or more in the new year.
A major change involves whats known as the mark-up rate, which is used when calculating taxes in certain business transactions, such as when a retailer purchases wholesale cannabis that will in turn be sold to consumers. The mark-up rate is being pushed up over 30 percent from its current mark.
Casey Wells, a spokesman for the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, said in a statement that the new rate was determined after the agency analyzed thousands of transactions in Californias computerized marijuana-tracking system.
Separately, cultivation tax rates are being increased by inflation, as required by law. For example, the tax on an ounce of dry buds will climb to $9.65 from $9.25, an increase of just over 4 percent.
(Excerpt) Read more at ktla.com ...
Dont leftists like their patriotic duty to pay more taxes for benefits to society? Ca Repubs pols should run on reducing pot taxes.
If you cant keep it illegal, tax the sh!t out of it! Especially if is making absurd revenue.
Free markets work when “other entities” stay out of the way. Who can compete with big govt AND organised crime both wanting 150%?
More tent cities, here we come! Right back where we started from...
Cant wait to kill their sacred cow
I smoke 2 joints before I smoke 2 joints, and then I smoke 2 more.
Regulation for safety just like abortion.
Wow, this is totally unexpected! (Too early to drink ...)
Pot is now legal in California
Before pot was legal there was virtually no enforcement of the law and pot was cheap and easy to get.
Now that pot is legal, the State of California is taxing the heck out of it just like it does with everything else.
While California never enforced anti pot drug laws, California enforces it tax revenue generating laws with a draconian vengeance
Pot heads were way better off when pot was technically illegal. Better a drug misdemeanor than felony tax evasion - the one crime in California its politicians actually consider to be punishable criminal action. Hey, its OK to steal from Wal Mart but if you try to steal from The State you are screwed .
Up next, warning labels and pricing by THC content and the start of massive regulation
California was the first to legalize pot and California politicians will be the first to take all the fun out of smoking pot.
Its just what they do.
Moral of the story - never vote when you are stoned
Get them hooked with lower costs and then squeeze them for all they’re worth...
Later, as the Plague spread, you could walk into select taverns, and buy cartons that had "fallen off a truck". Meanwhile, the Mob was highjacking truckloads of cigarettes down in Virginia, breaking the loads down into delivery vans that didn't have to stop at the weigh stations, and bringing them north.
It was common habit to strip the cellophane off the deck of smokes, and the state tax stamps, before you opened the pack...
It's nice to know that Democrats are forever Stupid.
Good Times...
60$ for an ounce of kine bud is a very good price.
60$ for 1/8 of an ounce of kine bud is about the highest possible street value of the substance.
If the legal stores are selling for 60 an eighth, it’s time to just black market it again.
Sublime!
Street dealers no longer have to worry about being busted for selling drugs, what they have to worry about is being busted for not paying taxes. And we all know how governments go after tax cheats. /s
Early on I predicted two things 1) the amount of money the state gets will be less than they projected 2) street dealing in pot will increase.
Each State with legal weed has a different scheme. The Laboratory of Democracy, at work. I’m not sure what WA’s prices are. They do not have a provision for people to legally grow for personal use.
I dont understand why anyone would buy pot products in a state where growing for personal use is legal. Having something like a vape cartridge or edibles for discrete use is understandable, but for most home use, leaf is better and healthier (if vaped).
Except it was half seeds and stems, back then. And seeds can go for $5 apiece, easily, these days. Sometimes you just have to laugh.
I think Cali allows the cultivation of up to six plants for personal use, with taxes being paid on the honor system.
I think we knew this was going to happen, so did the bad guys. RATS are so damn greedy.
“$60? That aint much more than we were paying for columbian in high school.”
I pay $60 now for a 1 gram cartridge of purple kush. If I smoke everyday it lasts me 3 months.
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