California Collected Over $3 Billion in Taxes From Cannabis Businesses Since 2018
Press release from The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA):
The California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) reported cannabis revenue [November 23] for the third quarter of 2021. As of November 16, 2021, total cannabis tax revenue from third-quarter returns is $322.34 million. This includes California’s cannabis excise tax, which generated $168.97 million; the cultivation tax, which generated $42.41 million; and $110.96 million in sales tax revenue from cannabis businesses. Third-quarter revenue decreased 6.6 percent from adjusted revenue figures for the second quarter. The total reported cannabis tax revenues do not include locally imposed taxes collected by cities and counties.
Previously reported revenue for the second quarter of 2021 returns was revised to $345.12 million, including $177.38 million in cannabis excise tax, $42.31 million in cultivation tax, and $125.43 million in sales tax. Revisions to quarterly data are the result of amended and late returns and other tax return adjustments.
Since January 2018, total cannabis tax revenue to date is $3.12 billion, including $1.58 billion in cannabis excise tax, $393.44 million in cultivation tax, and $1.15 billion in sales tax.
Background:
In November 2016, California voters approved Proposition 64, the Control, Regulate, and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act. 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. Sales tax applies to sales of cannabis, cannabis products, and other merchandise such as pipes, rolling papers, and shirts. Certain retail sales of medicinal cannabis are exempt from sales and use taxes when the purchaser holds a valid Medical Marijuana Identification Card issued by the California Department of Public Health. 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 essential local 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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Yep. Talk about ‘killing the goose that laid the golden egg’! They’re well on target to that. Then again, ‘our representatives’ benefactors will continue to reap benefits as they exploit the ill-conceived law.
A sad, sad reality.
Let’s keep in mind that the EDD handed out $20,000,000,000 to people who were unqualified to receive UI and to people who were defrauding the EDD by various schemes…
Keep in perspective just how much money is wasted by the state, and the sheer volume of money that feeds the system of PERS retirement…
The $3,000,000,000 in pot taxes is a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of CA Government incompetence and resulting from the waste of public resources…
lol, lost 10% of the California market share to the Tradional Market in just one quarter. That what ya’ll get for bragging about legal sales. How’s that number 1 Pre-Roll maker doin now. Anyways, try not to sell your product to low legals it just helps the enemy. I know it’s difficult times make the best decisions you can for you. Blessings.
If trimmers were paid $200 per lb when lbs went for average $3,500 each….
Than isn’t it only logical to assume that when prices hit an average of $1,750. per lb, trimmers should have been getting $100.00 per lb?
But since prices are 500-900 per lb…..
I am putting pictures together. Then we can discuss trimming you and I. Oversupply as I said is bullshit as well. They need to purchase Triangle weed for $500 and below a pound. Corporates need a lot of cash to pay for all that SPAC money they borrowed. 70% of all cannabis corporations fall into the above category, 70 fuck’in percent!! Normally not an issue except when the industry you are trying to dominate using wall street money to crush the small farmer is listed as a Schedule 1 narcotic, lol. Uncle Sammie ain’t gonna accept a security note as payment 😂 cash only!
Stay strong Humboldt! Always remember this great nation has a thirst that only the Triangle can quench and it will never be oversupplied!
Wow, maybe lay off the product. Oversupply is not going away. I know of multiple trad market farms that couldn’t sell out last year, for any price.
No, I won’t and just like the trimming, (photos comming soon) spewage the oversupply myth is now my focus. The corporates venture into the war on drugs does not change our dominance in this industry. Their strategy to squeeze the small mom and pops of the Triangle and cast aside those who sacrificed the most for the plant is going to be their undoing. Boxed wine is all they truly are and we can take that away as well. Don’t believe me then explain losing 15 million in tax revenue when retail sales projections were forcast to be 20% higher in the quarter. Someone took $45 million dollars in sales away plus another $8 million forecasted. I will forecast it was right outta their own backyard, lol. Let the people see where that lost 15% occurred! You try and hurt those we love and we’ll hurt you more.
The Traditional Market is not oversupplied and I’ll get mouthier especially come late 2022. My turn to take back what was once mine. As I said we are more organized and efficient than anyone thinks and to think otherwise would be foolish.
Are you even in the game? I can hardly even understand your argument about oversupply. Unless your growing indoor then you have the only dipshits in Cali paying $1,000 per lb. the reason the legal retailers are seeing a 20% to 40% drop in sales is because you can get a lb for twice as much as the legal retailer sells a zip
Game no, war yes. My legal sales are through SISU it’s documented. I have not finished trimming (this is how I found out about the trimming for 125 and below spewage is bullshit) this year’s harvest (cause I have to clean 40lbs cause I went outside what we use normally) so, not sure what it will fetch. Looks really good though once it is trimmed properly. I will send it out for testing next week through SC Labs I will let those eager know as soon as I sell.
I grow full sun outdoor legally. I will submit my product to the Cal State Fair. See ya there. The 1,000 a pound is what I think all small growers under 10k should be paid. I legally sold my full sun outdoor last year for 1,250+ a pound, documented and invoiced.
I’m kind of confused 🤪 I thought you were the “traditional” market guy. Now you are a “legal” outdoor grower who only grew 40 lbs. & you’re selling it on the traditional market. After what seems like years of you posting sh!t about legal growers and now you are a legal grower just doesn’t make sense. What happened? Did the popo reach out to you or something?
I will help out any grow that is pre 1996, legal or not. I will volunteer my time, effort and money to any OG! The cool part is I get to send my product to the Cal State Fair and I am looking forward to seeing where we land. I am a Traditional Market grower who was taught respect.
I grow for a small legal farm. The guy who owns the land has health issues so I volunteer to grow his legal crop. I get paid zero dollars. The 40 pounds (supposed to be 50) is what I got trimmed up by trimmers outside my normal trimmers I use. Ya’ll talk about trimming below 125 so I wanted to know what 125 trimmed weed looked like with my own eyes. Not only did they trim incorrectly they couldn’t even finish the job. You get what you pay for and my research proved 125 trimming looks like a poor product compared to what my trimmers produce who I pay well above 150. I now know one of the differences between why I get more money per pound now. I have photos to prove my point coming soon.
I predict in 2 years you will be working for Flo Kana for minimum wage.
Like they are gonna be able to pay their debt and taxes, please. They will get bought out in a paper exchange/merger until the ponzi scheme collapses inward. The execs will all get million dollar bonuses while the mom n pops get to pick up the pieces of their shattered life.
I own all my possessions. I am actually more in a position to get Flo Kana’s assets for a penny on the dollar. Only issue is I don’t need any of their assets even at a penny.
LOL! Vegas wouldn’t take that bet!
You tell em boss👍
No. The rate of 200/lbs was never based on a percentage share of the product. It just made sense given the amount of time it takes to trim 1 pound.
I’m not necessarily an expert, but does it take less time to trim a pound now than then?
I don’t think so.
I’ve also never heard what you’re saying to be the case.
It is interesting if that is the case.
I wasn’t involved in the decisions to create trimmer employment rates at those (or any) times.
It was supply and demand. People needed weed trimmed & there was a limited supply of trimmers. The trimmers were able to demand more per pound and benefits. Back in the day the game was more underground. You had to know somebody to be down with the program. Also growers back in the day were just more generous. They tried to take care of people who helped them. Now it’s all corporate and cannabis farms could care less about their employees. It also has to do with the original/2Nd generation growers were more embedded in the community. They actually cared about their employees. Now farms are run by people from out of state who could care less about the local community or their employees. Just look at KMUD & the Mateel suffering. Our community is lost……
I know a few women who have come here in the last few years to trim. They were waitresses back east and even at $125/lb. they make much more trimming weed. There is an endless supply of people wishing to be here trimming weed. People who show up and work well and are used to being economically abused by crappy bosses. There is no need anymore to be held hostage by overdemanding trimmers who think they are irreplaceable and want to make more money than you for showing up one month out of the year and investing *zero* in the project. (I pay better and hire locals because I know that money will sustain my neighbors. Not pay for exquisite bullshit. We became as lame and materialistic as L.A. but I still resist…)
It’s more like people were paying $200 because it was tough to find good timers and if you wanted your ganja trimmed you had to pay up. Trimmers had more leverage back in the day. They would get $200 a pound. Free organic meals. All the weed they could smoke and even massages from a professional massuse. Now trimming has become migrant farm work. Minimum wage with no benefits. Man this weed game has really turned into a sh!t show
No no absolutely not it was based on quality of work and watching Yabo’s running 20 bucks an hour doing nothing. I know because I was one of the first people who ever requested that rate and then it spread pretty fairly because we would go to a good percentage of the grow jobs they would hold their bins waiting for us. One of the first crews ever to work year round trimming all through the summer due to our reputation. It would be so funny would be finishing up doing the last couple bins and the boss would always come in with their neighbor hey my neighbor so and so really like your work can you go over there next. Why sure we can same rate! Ok see ya ladies next week!
Sorry you lose. Bs story. 200 was the going rate in the hills for indoor way before people were putting weed into bins
Trash cans, pickle barrels ( always made the weed pick up that “peppery smell”) , contrator’s bags. Bins…new fangled totes since round 2007 ish. Then at first retail would run out. Now common to see trailers full of the black in yellow totes flying down the freeway. Make stacking bins easy for sure.
Are you willing to trim a pound for less than $50? Would you feel good paying that type of wage to someone else?
I would think the goal of any business is to pay its employees and survive itself.
Maybe if the trimmer rates were based on percentage (maybe they weren’t?) than my question points to the idea that maybe trimmers were severely underpaid for most of the years?
However….
It seems to be no issue for a 4 lb day by a well managed trimmer.
At $50. per lb that would be a $200.00bdollar day.
Where can I go make that money tax free with no degree in the triangle?
Dude! You’ve obviously never trimmed weed before. No one trims 4 pounds in a day unless it’s all tops and no lowers and all the big leaf was already bucked off. If you are trimming whole plants, including lowers, it can easily take up to 8 hours to trim one pound. Trimming speed depends on the material you are working with. If you are trimming super dense nugs and little larf your trim speed per pound will be much faster than if the cannabis is on the airy side. Also how much responsibility do the trimmers have? Are they just sitting in a chair being handed colas to trim fast or do they have to buck the plants down and deleaf the water and fan leaves. If they have to do other things besides just snipping chunky buds the process takes longer.
I trimmed tons of weed in late 90s and early 2000s for under the table moonlighting.
If you can’t get 4 done a day something can be better managed to get you there.
Smalls should never even be on the plant, let alone hand trimmed.
You didn’t know our girls yeah they could trim 4 lb in a day Littles or Bigs. We were f****** legendary. Most I ever cleared in one day was $784. Mind you that was a 10-hour shift.
Trimming in the future will mainly be automated for big grows. Only cost effective way to do it. They already have trimming machines, but checkout the new line of robots coming out. They can flip burgers, stack shelves and even trim weed. In the future only craft cannabis will be hand trimmed and it will come with a premium price. Hand crafted/ Hand trimmed……..
I retired from trimming after close to 20 years in 2018 once it hit $100 a # and the quality dropped as well. It was an epic global run 1988-2018.
We set the 200 a lb bulk rate in 2006 Laytonville area. Many of us ladies running the crews were breaking down the time it took to fine hand trim product. The Growers wanted to pay $20 an hour flat rate.The issue was that you could have a jack off playing the guitar all day sitting around f****** off, drinking beer and earning the same as the ladies who busted ass and trimmed several pounds in a day. It came down to us at the end of the day having what we trimmed weighed. Showed the bosses our work. Guaranteed outputs. We compared what was done and quality of the job. We went to by the gram. Went to .44 cents a gram. The bosses could see that highly motivated us to get lots more done and it quickly put the people that got nothing done in a day out of a job. They would get really irritated one some of the higher paid ladies would be pulling in over 700 and they’d make fifty bucks. They didn’t hang around long. A fine hand trim you don’t handle the Cannabis you hold it by the stem your scissors are cleaned frequently. You’re truly removing just the big leaves all the way down to the center stem nipping them with the snip tips of your scissors, clean butt presentation. Every single bud contained within a pound could be looked at and appreciated. There was no swaggy s*** in there. It does take a little bit of skill. Seen a lot of hack jobs. Just because you’re running the scissors over it it doesn’t mean it’s trimmed. ❤
Sad you’re hold so much anger for the men that worked there asses off to put that product on the table so you could clear $500+ a day.
And if you came to laytonville in 2006 you didn’t dictate or change shit. Life long local. Try spewing nonsense somewhere else lol
We set the $200 a pound standard in Woodman out Dos Rios, Branscomb, Fox , Spy and Bell. in 2006 never said came to Laytonville in 2006. Originally we used to get paid in trade for weed. Or $10 an hour. Or for the privilege to be able to sell it once it was trimmed. That was in mid to late 80s. No anger…never. Have someone sitting with ya pulling an oz or two a day. Talking so the hands stop. They made same wages. Was it fair to our bosses??? No they were getting taken advantage of. We learned to work n talk. Our product always looked fire, no duff, no railroad tracks, no visible stems. Recall numerous times the pounds were thrown down on the table and our trim jobs would get picked before others. Only speak from reality. Lol…one day we were coming out the back side of Branscomb Road by mud flat. I was in my crummy truck had six ladies with me in the cab and two in the bed sitting on lawn chairs riding down the mountain. As we came around a super steep blind Corner here’s the full water truck Marci is driving up the hill blasting her horn at me. I yelled at the girls hold on!!! I slammed it in reverse and four-wheel drive as fast as I could and backed up around that blind corner and up off the side saving Marci from dumping her load. The girls in the back of the truck bed flew up in the air and crashed down and broke their chairs. We all lived to trim another day. If you ever run into any of the ladies that used to work on our crews they will all tell you that that was the best time of our lives. Friends Coffee Shop Crew ❤ Throwback anyone???
California’s democrat legislators never saw a tax they didn’t like and love to kill businesses…
Business is booming in CA.
https://www.kcra.com/amp/article/california-analyst-predicts-31-billion-budget-surplus/38280944
2 successive years in a pandemic with the largest budget surplus of the nation for both years.
Not too shaby.
California democrats still never saw a tax increase they didn’t like…If If California has a huge surplus, why do we have such high taxes? Business is moving out of our state.
Surplus is a fallacy that is overshadowed by the reality of unfounded pensions.
Was that unfunded pensions?
SPOT fucking on! If liberals understood economics, they wouldn’t be liberals.
The only reason we were able to get conservatives to agree to the law was the promise of taxes.
Most California republicans voted against the devastating democrat tax increases…
Wait! What?
TIme to outlaw light-dep. That will tremendously reduce plastic use and help with the over production.
Lol you can light dep without using plastic….
A polycarbonate glass greenhouse that automatically controlled can go from clear to blackout would be badass! Like reading glasses that become sunglasses.
I know a blackout liquid Ferrofluid that is magnatizeable (not sure if that is even a word) that would work great. Use magents to interlock the glass panels in a galvanized frame to be able to turn the magnetic poles covering a thin layer between the in glass panels with the magnetic goo. Use gravity the angle of the glass and turning off the magnetic field with a simple switch and making the glass clear again.
Cannabis should be no more regulated than tomatoes. Maybe one day cannabis will be legalized.
Name one other legitimate agricultural product that can be picked from the plant that allows the user to get an immediately altered state of consciousness. There are none. Grapes Are the closest and you still have to turn it into wine. That argument is a utopian dream.
Tobacco
Poppies.
Ok I knew someone would bring up poppies. That is a legit crop for ornamentals. Not really comprable to tomato or broccoli
And I guess wasn’t thinking tobacco cause anyone who has ever smoked knows u only get high like the first couple drags
Well at least you admitted that you get high. Therefore a legit crop has been named.
Congratulations on your victory sir!
I stand by my belief that cannabis is not just another agricultural crop. I’ve been smoking my whole adult life and the weed we pull down off the vine today is far superior & incredibly stronger than what we grew 20 or 30 years ago
And so is the weed grown in Mexico, Oregon, Colorado, Alaska, Hawaii, etc. etc.
Lol! Anyone can grow weed, anywhere!
Grow your own, dry your own, trim your own, roll your own. Eliminate the greed.
Provide for your own need.
https://leafmagazines.com/profiles/grows-gardens/will-glass-house-farms-become-the-worlds-largest-cannabis-grow/
This guy’s new acquisition is situated In a prime agriculture region, off a main highway less than half hour from LA.
It’s a good article.
I liked the previous owners patents on Greenhouse heating and cooling.
You don’t get rich panning for gold, you get rich selling picks, shovels, gold pans and sleuce boxes.
Victory wasn’t the outcome I desired, merely an answer to your question.
We have grown very strong herb all over this planet at many different times. Some of us were introduced to illegally smuggled poor representations and some of us were lucky to partake in amazing well taken care of plants.
I am 50 now and smoked from 13 to 45. I endured ups and downs concerning potency along the way. I honestly cannot validate your statement.
I remember smoking a Hindu Kush cross at 16 it was definitely as strong as today’s strains. The guy grew 6 plants in Horse Creek Ca it was some of the most beautiful, potent herb I’ve ever had. I was also lucky enough to enjoy some Lebanese Red with the makers stamp. We were given it as a reward for splitting firewood. Again, some of the most potent hash I’ve ever came across.
Any fool can grow high quality doobage anywhere in this nation, in their own back yard! The “pipe dream” that people from Humboldt hold onto, that somehow their product is sacred or “special” is laughable.
Ace out these self-absorbed growers and the dispensaries and grow your own.
Until ya try it’s not as easy as ya think to get the stink
Hoodrats ain’t picky, heard about a ship off shelter cove. I’ll bet the rest of the world ain’t either. Let’s get China stoned, fair trade for the virus.
Any guesses on the loss of sales tax?
“I will not comply”
That’s the spirit! Good for you.
😉
Woops, I guess to say it how I meant it I would say, you did not comply.
Lower sales. Not as much product moving. Lots of people like myself are just growing 6 legal plants now. I have weed flowering year round. Getting ready to harvest again in a week or 2 then will have 6 more flowering. This is all done on my deck and south facing window seals. Just 7 gallon pots. A couple ounces per plant. I harvest every 2-3 months and have fresh weed to smoke year round. I’m always drying fresh herb. It’s no a lot, but it’s enough for my personal consumption. I’m not selling anything. Just smoking fresh, clean, organic weed. There’s nothing like smoking plants you grew. My plants are apart of my family. I move them outside in the morning if it’s not raining then bring them back inside at sunset. By keeping them dry I have zero powdery mildew and no mold. It’s really quite simple. As more people realize they can just grown their own headstash supply there will be less people buying flowers at the store. I’ve been a Humboldt County grower for 30 years and sold the farm a few years back when the Greenrush took over and I could see the beginning of the end……
I’m guessing what the state earned corresponds directly with a loss in sales tax revenue. No net gain for the state and a net loss locally since sales tax supports local governments.
One of the cool things about growing your own now are the clones! There are multiple legal clone dealers now with incredible strains. Luckily here in Humboldt we get access to the latest and greatest strains on the planet. This is my 5th harvest for this year, 2021, and I’ve grown 30 different strains. I always buy 6 clones I’ve never grown before, if I can, so I can checkout what all the latest genetics are all about. There are an endless amount of new strains to discover. I’ve grown in all the different microclimates in the Emerd Triangle and are now growing on the coast. It’s fun to see how strains develop and produce in different ecosystems. For me it’s the spiritual connection to the plant that keeps me growing. It’s spiritual for me and not economical. Luckily I’m smart enough to be able to make money other ways then just growing weed.
I would like to know when they make these donations of tax money to the entities listed in the article. When’s the last time you heard 50 million dollars given to local schools from Cannabis funding? Or a hundred million dollars given to transportation services for improvements of roadways. How about this one 75 million dollars awarded to Public Health to discuss the effects of marijuana. Anybody ever heard of this??? Yeah, acquaintance got shifted over to the Cannabis office in Sacramento. Apparently they have places that count cannabis tax money all day long with teams of people.
I cannot see where that $3 billion went. Can you? I’m guessing they are paying lots of people to make sure the regulations are being regulated properly and meetings are being held about all that and such. What’s important to me is that we are all now FREE and SAFE!! Doesn’t it feel good to STEP INTO THE LIGHT and CURATE our BRANDING while celebrating our TERROIR? I know it’s all been worth filling out the reams of paperwork and paying all the consultants and engineers and box checker personnel! Because FREE and SAFE and now I can proudly loudly say -in public- HEY, I’M A FARMER TOO!
I know I over posted on this thread, but wanted to clarify how I’m able to grow year round outside with only 6 plants at a time and always in flower. I start my next round a couple/few weeks before I harvest the previous round. That way my plants are ready to go when I harvest. During the summer when days are longer I just give the plants 12 hours of light. For the most part it’s 7 am outside and then 7 pm back inside. As the days get shorter I don’t have to pull the plants in early. They get less light outside during fall & winter, but the plants still flower. Also look at the last couple of weeks. Been super sunny. That’s helping the plants nug up and put on more density. You don’t crush it growing 6 plants year round and always in flower, but you always have plenty of fresh flowers to smoke and that’s all I care about. Also it’s the connection to the plant and seeing the process from clone to harvest that makes the experience truly rewarding. Even when I buy the best weed at the dispensary for some crazy price per 1/8 it’s never as good or I should say never as satisfying as smoking your own. There is something truly magical about consuming cannabis that you grew . Similar to if you have a veggie garden. The produce always tastes better when you grew it. That is the true connection Humboldt has to the cannabis plant. It’s spiritual. We were just some of the first people to figure this out in the US……
The only thing I buy at dispensaries are concentrates, occasionally edibles if I don’t have my own and clones. I occasionally buy flower just to taste different strains or to explore different farms, but the prices are too high still at the dispensaries if you are only buying an 1/8. It’s tough to support that business model when you know the farmer got screwed and only paid so much for their pounds then the dispensary jacks the price up exponentially. It’s really unfair. The price discrepancy that the farmer gets per pound and what the dispensary gets per 1/8. Imo this discrepancy is one of the reasons this CA legalized experiment isn’t working.
If those 1/8’s were cheaper at the dispensary they would be moving a lot more product……
The dispensaries there getting their asses spanked. Between the employment taxes paying the employees the insurance rates. Retail space. One person that I know running a dispensary at first they were paying $3,000 a month for their retail space, plus a percentage of sales. Weeks ago their landlord said if you want to stay in this site you’re going to pay $10,000 a month plus 10% of gross sales what choice do they have? Cannabis taxes After it’s already been taxed at the grower. All of the other regulations I know several people running dispensaries they have to charge that much to be able to cover all their costs. All that advertising fancy, shiny, pretty wrappers and packaging that costs a lot as well.
How about California puts a cap on the number of legal grows to help stop the scourge of over production?
Do that with all the other agriculture products and see how you like the prices at the grocery store. As with other products, efficient production should win.
“efficient production should win.”
Spot on. Goverment picking winners is just fascism. It’s why health care, education, legal advice and anything else you can think of is so fucked up and overpriced!
Efficient production should win.
Mafia and Cartel like behavior isn’t just for drug and human trafficking.
I was discussing a cap on commercial cannabis grows to stabilize the price and nothing else…But you seem to get the idea…The price increases.
Damn 2k a pound in Florida, sweet, lol.
https://www.news4jax.com/news/local/2021/11/29/2-florida-men-found-with-240-pounds-of-marijuana-during-jacksonville-traffic-stop/