California Lawmakers Seek Tax Cuts For State's Sluggish Pot Industry
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A group of Democratic state lawmakers are proposing major tax cuts for the marijuana industry to jump-start's California's sluggish legal marketplace.
The bill Assemblyman Rob Bonta of Oakland and others introduced Monday would for the next three years eliminate the state's $148 per pound cultivation tax and reduce the state's 15 percent excise tax on retail sales to 11 percent.
State tax revenues for the legal industry's first year fell $275 million short of the $630 million Gov. Jerry Brown included in his proposed budget last year. Licensed marijuana businesses complain that California's high taxes and complicated red tape leaves them unable to compete with the state's thriving illegal market.
Legal marijuana businesses also pay local taxes not affected by the bill, which failed to pass last year.
Copyright 2019 The Associated Press.
