[ChronJohn]

Oakland rushed last week to raise medical cannabis business taxes and to be the first city in the nation to legitimize industrial-sized pot production. The cash-starved city is hoping to reap millions of dollars in tax revenues from medical cannabis businesses while positioning itself to capitalize on the explosion of recreational pot sales should state voters go that way in November.

But is it just a pipe dream? No one really knows whether Oakland will find that pot of gold in the cannabis industry. Growers and dispensaries are making money, to be sure, and the city wants its share. But competition, legal risks and the unknown economic effects from potential legalization make the sure bet anything but.

California voters in 1996 overwhelmingly passed Proposition 215, the so-called Compassionate Use Act, which decriminalized medicinal use of marijuana. Dispensaries popped up almost overnight, supplied by a cottage industry of growers selling pounds of pot for $2,500 to $3,500, tax-free. Retail prices are double that, but not enough to stop the flood of patients willing to spend more than $300 an ounce for high-grade marijuana.

The estimated value of California's pot crop is $13.8 billion, according to an analysis for California NORML, a nonprofit organization devoted to marijuana reform. About 3 million people in the state use marijuana, medical and recreational, and consume an estimated 1 million pounds a year.

Read More Here

What's interesting about this article is that at the end, they give a rundown of some ballot initiative propositions that voters in various California cities will be voting on. What's interesting is the proposed taxes on recreational sales:

# BALLOT INITIATIVES Oakland: 5 percent tax on medical cannabis dispensaries and cultivation facilities, 10 percent for recreational production and sales.
- Berkeley: 2.5 percent for medical marijuana, 10 percent recreational.
- Sacramento: 4 percent medical marijuana, 10 percent recreational.
- Richmond: 5 percent medical marijuana, 5 percent recreational.
- San Jose: 10 percent medical marijuana.
- Long beach: 5 percent medical marijuana, 10 percent recreational.
- Stockton: 2.5 percent medical marijuana, 10 percent recreational

5%-10% on recreational sales. Not a fixed dollar amount, such as $50 an oz as some have suggested. This is good news for those who were worried about taxes being too high. Granted 10% is a bit much, and don't even get me started on the proposed taxes for MEDICAL, however imagine if prices dropped to $50-$80 an oz retail and the tax was $50 an oz. That'd be a 100% (or close to it) tax, and the price of that oz is now $100+! But if the rate is set at 10% then the tax is only $5-$8 dollars and your oz is half as much. IDK this just really stood out to me, and goes along with the study discussed in the article. That "$1.4 Billion in taxes" number that CA NORML and the CA board of equalization have been relying on depends upon a $50 per oz tax, and is based on current usage. We will see if the state decides to set its own tax to add on top of local taxes. But anything that keeps bud less expensive for the daily tokers is good in my opinion.

I will add that the CA NORML $1.4 billion in taxes estimation comes from just Californian's current use. Imagine when Californians can smoke bud legally. And out of staters start flocking in to smoke legal buds. And, as they pointed out in the article, export "legal" buds. This, plus the tax revenues gained from all the accompanying taxes with several new/greatly expanded industries (industrial hemp production/processing, hemp goods market, recreational paraphernalia, smoke lounges, grow supplies etc), is what will put tax revenues way over the estimates, even if prices plummet.

So, while everything the RAND study brought up is correct, the article’s author reaches the wrong conclusion by saying there will be less tax revenues than expected. The RAND study they cite even points out that “it is impossible to grapple with legalization” because there is almost no concrete information to work with. I estimate that if California fully utilizes the new markets voters will approve in November, the taxes will far exceed expectations.

[SmilinBob]

Everything around this bill seems to be about the benefits of growing and smoking pot. Nothing gets said about the benefits from hemp. The money that can be donated to research deeper into the medicinal value. The loss of money for cartels, etc, etc. It's all about how much you gotta pay for your bud.

[Yes4Prop215]

is there anything in the new legalization bill for the hemp industry?

i dont think the cities are gonna wanna see the prices drop if they want tax money. they would rather make 20 dollars off every OZ then just 5 bucks. so in order to do that..they need richard lee and the big growers bottleneck the local market to keep ounces at around 200.


fuck it all...fuck california to be honest. if they want to kill the counterculture im moving to the tri-state and getting my boston george on.

[Bulldog11]

Don't forget who started this movement for everybody. Now we are doing it again. Give it time, all the nay Sayers will be shut up. Cali may not be perfect, but once the road is plowed, it is easier for others to follow. First Cali, then other states, then USA, then the world. That is how I see it.

[ajc0k]

fuck all this bull shit. if it ever legalizes im starting a huge organic hemp clothing line :p

[igrowone]

10% - that's on the high side - but compared to some of the talk around here, that's nothing, especially when that's the extreme case and the others are more like a regular sales tax

[SmokeyHarvest-N]

wouldn't be adding those tax dollars into the general fund(or whereever) just yet.
This may have something to say about that!
https://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/...0/ndcs2010.pdf

[SKUNK420]

Wake up people. Now do you realize what they mean when they say "don't count your eggs before they hatch?" You can not guarantee the amount of money that will get generated from taxing a product or service. Then they set it as a percentage. So if we use the $50 per ounce number then the ounce would have to be $500 bucks and when tax at a rate of 10% = $50.

on a side note:
Once again Barry O. does his dirt on the weekend when nobody is watching. Kagan is offically on SCOTUS. Now the anti-2nd admendment bills will start coming to the surface.

[m21fire]

From what i heard from a sunsystems rep is Richard Lee just put in a order for 250 magnum xxxls....Watch out that fucker is going to be flooding some shit.....Fuck him and his backers.....

VOTE NO ON PROP 19!!!!!!!!

Originally Posted by ;

"Once again Barry O. does his dirt on the weekend when nobody is watching. Kagan is offically on SCOTUS. Now the anti-2nd admendment bills will start coming to the surface."

There is just no basis in reality for this scenario and it sounds like a Republican electoral fantasy. You might not be one, but you are repeating their nonsense. There is not enough support in the House or the Senate to pass any anti-2nd amendment legislation. Dems would be committing career suicide if they tried to pass anti-gun legislation before November and after November, they'll have even fewer votes. GOP propagandists have been warning about this since before Obama took office. Remember the uptick in ammo and gun sales in 2008 and 2009? So much for the new laws that still don't exist, that drove those sales....