How Much Money Does California Pull in From Legal Cannabis?
Press release from California Department of Tax and Fee Administration:
The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) reported revenue numbers…for cannabis sales for the 2nd Quarter of 2021. As of August 17, 2021, California’s cannabis excise tax generated $172.3 million in revenue reported on the 2nd Quarter 2021 returns due by August 2, 2021, and the cultivation tax generated $40.4 million.
Sales tax revenue from cannabis businesses totaled $120.5 million for the same period. Sales tax applies to sales of cannabis, cannabis products, and other tangible personal property. Certain retail sales of medicinal cannabis are exempt from sales and use taxes when the purchaser provides, at the time of purchase, a valid Medical Marijuana Identification Card issued by the California Department of Public Health and a valid government-issued identification card.
Total tax revenue reported by the cannabis industry is $333.2 million for 2nd Quarter returns. This does not include tax revenue collected by each jurisdiction. Previously reported revenue for 1st Quarter 2021 returns was revised to $304.8 million, which included $157.8 million in cannabis excise tax, $39.2 million in cultivation tax, and $107.8 million in sales tax. Revisions to quarterly data are the result of amended and late returns, and other tax return adjustments. Cannabis tax revenue data is available on the CDTFA Open Data Portal.
Since January 2018, total program revenue to date is $2.8 billion, which includes $1.4 billion in cannabis excise tax, $347.4 million in cultivation tax, and $1.0 billion in sales tax.
In November 2016, California voters approved Proposition 64, the Control, Regulate, and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act. Beginning on January 1, 2018, two new cannabis taxes went into effect: a cultivation tax on all harvested cannabis that enters the commercial market and a 15 percent cannabis excise tax upon purchasers of cannabis and cannabis products. In addition, retail sales of cannabis and cannabis products are subject to state and local sales tax. To learn more, visit the Tax Guide for Cannabis Businesses on the CDTFA website.
The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) administers California’s sales and use, fuel, tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis taxes, as well as a variety of other taxes and fees that fund specific state programs. CDTFA-administered programs account for more than $73 billion annually, which in turn supports local essential services such as transportation, public safety and health, libraries, schools, social services, and natural resource management programs through the distribution of tax dollars going directly to local communities.
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Sounds like a lot of taxes
Illegalization sux… all those yuppie pro legalize it folks really sad stuff. Prop 215 was the best — everyone so selfish now.
Aaaactually, 215 birthed the greedy people, legalization just made it easier for them to be d!cks!!!
And sadly that pipe dream went up in smoke!
Yay. More revenue for the State so they can have more money to spend on the administrative bureacracies. Guess what folks? The solution to bad governance isn’t more government.
How do we end this shit. Let us grow weed in peace
You can’t because voters decided that cutting the State in would work out well. Remember, the regulatory bureaucrat doesn’t produce squat. Their function is to steal the money you gained through productivity to hand out to their friends who don’t. It’s called institutional theft. Read Frederic Bastiat’s treatise The Law for more insight. In the simplest terms the regulatory bureaucracy is a sophisticated welfare system designed to enrich the miscreants that administrate it. Good Luck!!
I’m curious about how much in permit fees, and taxes humboldt and Mendocino counties have collected in the same time frame.
I don’t mind paying fair taxes. I don’t mind protecting the environment, but the ceqa process has been used to bully people to stop.
The regulatory scheme is so giant in humboldt only biggest growers can match its scale. That’s why legal grows are so giant size. The opposite of what 99% of us ever wanted.
Well, I don’t know what they’ve hauled in to date, but rest assured it’s a bundle. If you think it’s burdensome now, just wait until the Feds start dipping their beaks. legislation on the federal level, however minor, will allow them their “toe in the tub” moment and will manifest into a regulatory nightmare. Remember the snakes response when the woman asked why he took a bite? “You silly woman, you knew I was a snake before you invited me in”. Elections have consequences.
Best definition of a Republican that I have heard in a long time! Someone’s got to pay for all that fossil fuel welfare.
We’ll, after 3 1/2 years of leglization ya pulled in 3 billion. Corporate loss estimates are around 6 billion to date. lol, I predict wall street will want to generate more EFTs which means more ads about how successful and rich grandma and grandpa will be investing in cannabis. Grow Humboldt and make em waste every dime!!!
LL, I’d love to purchase a pound of your “velcro” flower and have it made into a couple ounces of RSO. Preferably not CO2 oil, cuz it’s too damn viscous.
I’m paying 25% on my dispensary purchases instead of 10% because I lack a current medical card.
For some reason ethanol-based RSO is really hard to find since legalization.
Hope you’re feeling better grower dude.
I would love for you to try the product I make (we do not charge anyone who’s needs are for medical use). I make an RSO type product for cancer patients. No decarboxylation simple extraction using ethonal gives a full terp profile well everything beyond 100 degrees. I also use water to extract then freeze dry for a cleaner product but loose terps when trying to remove the waxy lipid of the trichrome because the lowest temp I been successful so far is at 140 degrees. I could talk about this shit all day.
Anyways, I am doin much better just need to build up stamina the COVID took a lot outta me. Thanks for asking, blessings.
LegalL — dude, I didn’t realize you had been down with the Covid. Best wishes man.
You rock brother for helping out the patients. Much love. It took them over two years before they gave us a way to do that on the legal front — was a cluster like all their other shit.
Thanks JB, I am past the worst. Be safe out there it’s a nasty virus. Blessings to you and yours.
LL, found anything that helps? I had it too and am still tired. The only thing I’ve found is lots of vit C and that doesn’t really help that much.
Increase your blood flow with bananas, onions and garlic. Avocado is good fat, keep hydrated (sip some pickle juice) and light walks at first then increase or even decrease based on how ya feel. Do some streches then try push ups just start with 3 and work your way up, sit ups, same start with 3 and a 1 minute plank in the morning when you can.
thanks
That is the amount of money pulled from the real lives of people who used to be able to donate to our VFDs and other non profits. Extraction that goes directly into the pockets of corrupt politicians
You hit the nail on the head. Each of us knows better than the government what are the needs of ourselves and our communities.
Welcome to legitimate business in California
Yep ! We are pretty much done as small farmers, the moment the state decided to let persons stack their Triple Rs and go over the one acre cap, our fate was sealed. The state does not , nor our county, give a —— about us . All, I repeat, ALL they care about is the tax revenue returns ! Us small farmers are just collateral damage.
This all sounds great, to some, until you dig deeper. All of my friends, who grow cannabis legally and commercially, sell the lion’s share of their crop to the black market. They have to claim a large part of their crop was lost due to various problems, but it is easy to do. It puts most of the small pot farmers out of business, but who cares? The regulators are happy; they got millions of dollars. Pot smokers are happy; they can buy tested weed out of a dispensary in town, instead of non-tested weed off a street corner. The comercial growers are happy; they just grow more to compensate. It’s a win, win, win, loose situation, and a large part of the population could care less if someone living the dream looses out, as the small pot farmers have found out the hard way.
This situation, where our government is making money off something they know is illegal, is also illegal, but who cares? The law these days seems to only apply to those who don’t pay off the politicians who legistrate the laws.
But heck, we, as a voting population, voted for this.
It is sad that people naively voted for this, but the greenrush was already squeezing the life out of many dreams. People voted for what they imagined and wanted this to be, not what it obviously was. Those who were paying attention could see that only a few would be able to “go legit” and make it. How many of those who are would be without selling black market out the back door?
O boy Paul you sound so smart ?
Well Rio, not all of us inherited a generation of home grown wealth.
As you well know, your going to ha e a harder time giving your kids the same easy start your parents have given you, because the government is now getting that share, right?
I’m surprised there isn’t a tax on the taxes!!!! Looks to me like they have every other possible tax they can pull out of their collective Nether Orifices!!!
Just wait till the epa starts to tax them for the amount of smoke their product produces when consumed and the health departments start to demand tax increases to cover the costs or treating perm a grin
Busted for smiling on a cloudy day.
There is. They tax the cultivator 3 times
They do tax the taxes, which is double taxation, which is what caused the Boston Tea Party revolt. They put sales tax on top of the excise tax at the retail level creating an additional fund for the compensation gained.
The states are much richer that have approved weed growth and sales. Your welcome. And mostly taken the crime element out. No uptic in driving accidents either. Took government way too long to approve a non adictive high thats been used for centuries. Put down the bottle and try Cannabis. No addiction, no hangover.
Feels like crime is up around here.
? Whut? Which planet are you from? Lol….???
How many pounds does that represent?
How much are they taxing per pound (from clone to consumer) is the real question??
Well I can only estimate but I would say around 1.5 million pounds of nugz, they call it flower and roughly 750,000 pounds of stuff we used to bury they call shake. Might be that it’s 2.5 million pounds in shake, I have seen the competition and what they grow, and only 750,000 in nugz. Anyways, It is $9.65 an ounce tax on flower which is $154.40 a pound (and people think it will be $50 a pound, silly). It is $2.87 an ounce tax on shake which is $45.92 a pound.
Funny, cause it’s like 15%+ tax for that sweet tasty dankness but near 50% tax for the stuff we used to bury. Seems like legal should start burying might be cheaper than getting pushed into another tax bracket. Oh, almost forgot none of this accounts for the counties cultivation extortion tax which is roughly 7.5% to 15% per pound based on how much ya yeild per square foot. The more ya yield the lower tax you pay and that is why we have an abundance of corporate swag weed.
On the retail side it’s 15% accross the board meaning retail sales were 8.5 Billion. This is just the legal side which estimates 40% of the market. Meaning 6+ Billion traditional market (I multiplied the 60% then divided by 3 to reflect the “selling cost” difference). So the moral of the story is do not sell your product for less than $1000 a pound. If they want it cheaper tell them to put a seed in the ground and grow, harvest, dry, cure, buck, trim, weigh and package themselves cause that is what it takes! Blessings and may everyone’s harvest be bountiful.
How much of pot tax dollars pays lung cancer victims who smoked the pot?
Zero, the federal government refuses to research the benefits of marijuana. It’s a schedule 1 narcotic and causes madness according to the feds known as “reefer madness” when inhaled. No link to cancer has ever been confirmed by any medical institution in the United States.
How much was SPENT ON REGULATING? Did “they” break even? Please tell the other half of this quagmire of a story.
The purpose of regulation was to distribute money to the right-wing nut jobs here in the US. Otherwise, asset forfeiture would never have become a thing.
That’s the money that kept the triangle turning. Back when most of us were growing 6-15 a pice and even the trimmers were well paid and honest
That amount of tax is obscene…It’s time to elect politicians that won’t tax us to death…
That is a lot of tax money that would have been spent in our community supporting our businesses. The only thing we will see from that money is more helicopters flying around and a few stupid projects intended to help the poor farmer being fee-ed to death going through the expense of legalization. Legalization just gave the state a cut and screwed the local economy, even the county is hurting. Support our black market and keep our money in the local economy.
Cannabis industry is that most overtaxed and over regulated industry in the entire State. Alcohol kills thousands more people a year and their industry is not this regulated. Tobacco kills millions of people a year and their industry is not this regulated.
Hey, don’t forget taxes paid on profits. Every farm files yearly income tax forms with the IRS and CA. Another dip of taxes related directly to cannabis.
Too soon old, too late smart.
Obscene govt. overreach which guarantees the black market will flourish.
When you have to use 100 million of this tax revenue just to help businesses essentially file papers ,that is a systemic failure. One solution to increasing legal revenue would be Allowing mail delivery ( yes via Amazon ? ).
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https://fee.org/articles/california-s-100-million-marijuana-bailout-tells-you-all-you-need-to-know-about-its-government/?__cf_chl_jschl_tk__=pmd_rSi.Aql48YtSQYdq9MewTmDd9Ykw0MAFLYhQBeTMS_Y-1630345214-0-gqNtZGzNAmWjcnBszQd9
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As the Los Angeles Times reports, the industry is in serious trouble. The growth of licensed cannabis shops has been dismal and far below state projections. Just 1,086 retail and delivery firms have been permitted to date—about 82 percent lower than the 6,000 cannabis shops the government anticipated.”
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The industry is not in trouble. The industry is performing as expected. Corporations assumed it magically appears trimmed, packaged and ready for sale. They got their asses handed to them once they realized how labor intensive it is to produce a final product. Then a bunch of people started dying from illicit vape pens and this doomed the corporate model cause they were banking on vaping as a way around the intensive labor. Now corporations are losing millions cause retail storefronts permitting and taxes like on Venice Beach can’t turn a profit against illicits like us who are just around the corner moving product duty free with pricing 1/2 as much. Corporations are just the new green rushers and just as the green rushers before only a few will survive. Welcome to the war on drugs where your fantasy is just that!
ugh.. HATE the new comment system
What are your concerns?
I didn’t like it at first either Kym.
I just don’t like change.
But, I already like it a lot better.
Give it time. That’s all it needs.
A lot of emails probably disappeared. Enjoy the break that the transition gives you. It might only be a short break. There may have been a few imposters that have to “regroup”.
Three points on cannabis taxation. 1) MMJ Prop 215. 2) Legalization Prop 64. 3) Dispensaries considered “essential” businesses.
None of those things would have happened without taxation.
The Church of Weed- essential. The tax-free Church of God? Not.
Nice.
Knowing that the systems aren’t perfect for all, especially any ONE, I’m happy about what the tax revenue also stands for:
Less people in jail for pot.
Legalization is a good thing.
Anyone whining about “what used to be (in their pocket)” is simply advocating greed and selfishness, along with putting people, especially minorities, in jail for pot.
The solution to bad Government is elections and involvement by more people.
Anarchy and anti-government hoopla is no solution in a functioning Democracy.