{"id":1544851,"date":"2025-07-02T11:20:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T15:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1544851"},"modified":"2025-07-02T11:20:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T15:20:00","slug":"california-moves-forward-with-higher-marijuana-excise-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/california-moves-forward-with-higher-marijuana-excise-tax\/1544851\/","title":{"rendered":"California Moves Forward With Higher Marijuana Excise Tax"},"content":{"rendered":"

California Moves Forward With Higher Marijuana Excise Tax<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times,<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Buying legal weed and marijuana products in California will get slightly more expensive starting July 1 after state legislators failed to stop a state excise tax increase on the industry this month.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Effective Tuesday, marijuana retailers will pay 19 percent of gross receipts from cannabis and cannabis product sales\u2014a jump of 4 percentage points.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The excise tax is paid in addition to state sales tax and any city or county taxes applicable to the business\u2019s location.<\/p>\n

California Cannabis Industry Attorney Jared Schwass said the decision to move ahead with the tax was \u201cdisappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia legislators fail to act,\u201d <\/strong>Schwass posted<\/a> on X last week. \u201cDue to that failure, the California cannabis tax is still on schedule to increase from 15 percent to 19 percent on July 1st. It is disappointing to read that [Sen.] Mike McGuire was against freezing the automatic increase because his constituents, who are already struggling to stay in the regulated market, will feel the pain of this increased tax.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

McGuire, a Democrat from Ukiah in Northern California, is leader of the California State Senate.<\/p>\n

The state Assembly unanimously approved Assembly Bill 564<\/a> by Assemblyman Matt Haney of San Francisco on June 2. The legislation, as introduced, would have repealed the proposed tax hike. It was amended by lawmakers, however, to delay the implementation until the 2030\u20132031 fiscal year.<\/p>\n

The bill then stalled in a Senate committee this month, and the delay allows the tax hike to kick in.<\/p>\n

The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Western States Council applauded the bill\u2019s passage in June.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia\u2019s plans to raise the cannabis excise tax rate to 19 percent will only increase the number of failed legal cannabis businesses,\u201d UFCW Local 1167 President Joe Duffle said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cAs the leading cannabis union, UFCW sees how difficult it is for businesses that play by the rules.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Duffle said freezing the cannabis excise tax would give legal cannabis businesses a \u201cfighting chance\u201d to stay afloat in the struggling industry.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWithout this bill, the illicit cannabis industry will only flourish more and keep putting untested, untaxed and unregulated cannabis products into the hands of consumers,\u201d he added.<\/em><\/p>\n

A baker sells marijuana cookies at the medical marijuana farmers market at the California Heritage Market in Los Angeles on July 11, 2014.\u00a0 David McNew\/Reuters<\/p>\n

The California Cannabis Operators Association, the largest industry association in the state, started a petition<\/a> to urge legislators to pass the bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cSacramento politicians decided that you should now pay 25 percent more in excise taxes on safe and regulated cannabis products at your local dispensary,\u201d the association wrote in the petition. \u201cThis short-sighted policy decision will only drive more consumers to the illicit market, accelerate the ongoing market collapse, and (ironically) reduce overall tax revenue, hurting the community programs that rely on these funds.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The organization said the tax increase falls on consumers and patients at a time when many are struggling with inflation and cost-of-living challenges. The group also said it puts public health and safety at greater risk by driving even more Californians to the illegal black market.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor nearly five years, California\u2019s licensed cannabis market has been in a steep decline,\u201d<\/strong><\/em> the organization stated.<\/p>\n

On a statewide level, however, Haney\u2019s legislation faced strong opposition from a coalition of 98 organizations, including Youth Forward, Getting it Right from the Start, Child Action Inc., and other nonprofits that favored raising the excise tax.<\/p>\n

The groups said they risked losing at least $150 million per year for childcare, youth, and environmental programs if the tax increase was stalled.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThis translates into thousands fewer childcare slots for low-income children, fewer youth benefiting from substance abuse prevention programs, continuing environmental degradation of our watersheds, and other harms,\u201d the organizations told the state, according to a legislative analysis.<\/em><\/p>\n

Indigenous Justice, a nonprofit tribal organization, also opposed the bill, saying it would strip critical funding from tribal-focused grants that support cultural revitalization, land restoration, youth substance use prevention, sacred site access, and tribal youth leadership development, according to a legislative analysis.<\/p>\n

California receives millions each year in cannabis excise tax revenue that pays for childcare programs, health initiatives, and environmental programs.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The state\u2019s Legislative Analyst\u2019s Office projected in March that the state would receive $607 million<\/a> in cannabis tax revenue between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nWed, 07\/02\/2025 – 07:20<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/medical\/california-moves-forward-higher-marijuana-excise-tax<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

California Moves Forward With Higher Marijuana Excise Tax Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times, Buying legal weed and marijuana products in California will…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1544852,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1544851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1544851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1544851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1544851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1544852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1544851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1544851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1544851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}