Community | July 22, 2009 | 45 comments

Pot tax approved

source: http://cbs5.com/politics/oakland.pot.tax.2.1095782.html

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TheBrownKid

http://cbs5.com/politics/oakland.pot.tax.2.1095782.html

Oakland residents overwhelmingly voted Tuesday to approve a first-of-its kind tax on medical marijuana sold at the city's four cannabis dispensaries.

Preliminary election results showed the measure passing with 80 percent of the vote, according to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters.

The dispensary tax was one of four measures in a vote-by-mail special election aimed at raising money for the cash-strapped city. All four measures won, but Measure F had the highest level of support.

Scheduled to take effect on New Year's Day, the measure created a special business tax rate for the pot clubs, which now pay the same $1.20 for every $1,000 in gross sales applied to all retail businesses. The new rate will be $18.

Oakland's auditor estimates that based on annual sales of $17.5 million for the four clubs, it will generate an estimated $294,000 for city coffers in its first year.

Pot club owners, who openly sell pot over the counter under the 1996 state ballot measure that legalized medical marijuana use in California, proposed Measure F as a way to further legitimize their establishments.

"It's good business and good for the community," said Richard Lee, who owns the Coffee Shop SR-71 dispensary and Oaksterdam University, a trade school for budding dispensary workers.

The measure had no formal opposition; in November 2004, a ballot initiative that required Oakland police to make arresting adults using marijuana for personal use their lowest priority passed with 63 percent of the vote.

Support for Measure F was expected to be just as strong. As a result and given the mail-in nature of the election, there was little campaign activity, according to Lee.

"We put out signs, but outside of that it's been pretty low-key," said Lee, who hosted a victory party at Oaksterdam University's Student Union building in downtown Oakland.

Although California's 800 or so pot clubs also are expected to pay state sales tax, Oakland is the first city in the country to create a special tax on marijuana sales.

Advocates of legalizing pot for recreational use hope to use Oakland's experience with Measure F to persuade California voters next year to approve a measure that would legalize and regulate marijuana like alcohol.

City Council President Jane Brunner said last week the city is counting on all the measures passing because every dollar is precious in Oakland, where the council was forced to slash $83 million in funding so that its $414 million budget for fiscal 2010 is balanced.

Brunner said she was most interested in the fate of Measure D, which modifies a similar measure, called Kids First, which voters approved last year.

It would require the city to set aside 3 percent of its annual unrestricted general purpose fund revenues for grants to children and youth services.

Brunner said it is expected to raise about $3 million this year and up to $17 million in future years.

The measure appears to have passed with 71.5 percent of the vote, according to preliminary election results.

Measure C, the only measure that needs two-thirds approval, would increase Oakland's hotel tax by 3 percentage points, to 14 percent.

It's expected to generate an additional $2.8 million this year for a total of $12.9 million. Preliminary results indicate 76.6 percent of voters approved the measure.

Measure H would ensure that property transfer taxes be applied to properties that change hands, including those that are a results of mergers, acquisitions and other corporate ownership changes. The measure appears to have passed with 74.6 percent of the vote.

City officials estimate that it would generate $4.4 million in additional tax revenue.

Oakland residents have been turning in their ballots by mail or in person for the last several weeks.

According to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters, the preliminary results do not include most ballots turned in Tuesday and official results are expected later this week.
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    Community,   Webmash,   H.E.M.P.,   Cannabis Culture,   5 more
  2. tags:
    Marijuana,  California,  Taxes,  Pot,  3 more
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45 comments // Pot tax approved

  • cabinettags
    • 0
      cabinettags  

    • I have to admit I'm guilty of not thinking this through.

      Initially I was pleased with this simply because it's one more step towards normality. Acceptance. And the rate didn't seem excessive.

      But after reading so many comments posted here I have to agree that the majority of you are right. Taxing legalized cannabis for recreational use is one thing. But starting that off my taxing folks that are buying it for medical purposes is starting in the wrong place. Of all the cannabis users there are, these are the folks that SHOULDN'T be taxed.

      Once again we've got the cart in front of the horse.

    • 3 years ago
  • royulery
    • 0
      royulery  

    • i'm an alcoholic and can't smoke dope, too bad i rather liked it. this is a great step forward not just financially but also in race relationship. where a white man would get a ticket for pot, a man of color got jail. imprisoning black and brown men made a great deal of money for police depts. and courts; state taxes would pay for the head count at the end of each shift, so keeping the jails full was paramount. working at half way houses i've met many men whose lives have been ruined by a roach. the calif. prisons being over full have, for a while, been releasing non injury felons to finish their sentences at half way or sober living houses. it's heartbreaking to see a man, who has done well for a year, get locked up for a durty test.

    • 3 years ago
  • florest
  • SHAWN_RITTIMAN
  • pwefmd420
    • 0
      pwefmd420  

    • Now this is some awesome news. A glimmer of light in a long dark tunnel. Hopefully this opens up some eyes and gets other states to follow suit.

    • 3 years ago
  • JEREMIAHSKYE
  • moulicohen
    • 0
      moulicohen  

    • California needs all the help it can get with raising revenue. I don't think there are many people out there who would waste breath trying to defeat this law. Even the mormons care more about gay marriage than legalizing pot. It's time for California to find some way of balancing the book! www.scribd.com/moulicohen

    • 3 years ago
  • estee_arie
  • jubal
    • 0
      jubal  

    • I think it really sucks that Oakland did this. Oh yeah, lets hit up the sick people and suck more taxes out of them to pay for our city budget deficit. This is morally reprehensible.

      If they want to tax Cannabis, first they need to legalize it. Then tax it, but please don't tax people whose only medicine is cannabis.

      How does taxing sick people make sense?

    • 3 years ago
  • unimatrix0
    • 0
      unimatrix0  
    • jubal:

      it makes the medicine legitimate. All legitimate medicine/products are taxed.

      This is a good thing Jubal, by normalizing the medicine more sick people will have access.

    • 3 years ago
  • nik27
    • 0
      nik27  

    • Awesome!!! you know what though? I was at a dispensary here in los angeles and they gave me a receipt. I was thinking to myself.... wow... maybe dreams do come true!!

    • 3 years ago
  • sk0j0
  • jonathanmichael
    • 0
      jonathanmichael  

    • Some may feel that giving the "man" money for nature's gift may be wrong, but the way I look at it, the more it costs in the store, the more we'll grow it for ourselves... That's the one thing about pot vs, other agriculture... each person has plenty of opportunity to provide enough for his/her self. Try that with tabacco.

    • 3 years ago
  • cabinettags
    • 0
      cabinettags  
    • jonathanmichael:

      Jonathan, you've got a point there. I'm in KY. We used to be a BIG tobacco growing state. Tobacco isn't so much hard to grow, as it's hard to grow well. Depletes the soil all to hell and gone. It's a thing you have to fool with. So is the weed. But they part company there.

      Both have to be hung, dried and cured. But the tobacco that we grew here, if smoked by itself, would choke a goat. Making a reasonable cigarette, for example, requires a blend. Straight up Ky tobacco will kill you before cancer can get in a lick.

      On the other hand, the wicked weed grows just fine and the only blend required is time & inclination.

    • 3 years ago
  • itdango
  • Samiammi
    • 0
      Samiammi  

    • uhhh... does the gov't tax medicine? Because if its legal for medicinal purposes - then its viewed as medicine... and shouldn't be taxed.

      Here's an idea - legalize it, and then tax it. You can't tax something people aren't supposed to have. Why is there a tax, because there is a chance that people may abuse it?... what about morphine or other stimulating "medical" drugs people get addicted to and abuse...

      Sooo... how is it fair or legal that the government gets a cut with this substance over other medicinal substances?

    • 3 years ago
  • Robroy1
    • 0
      Robroy1  

    • This is the beginning folks, Politicians being greedy as they are, once they see the green it will spread like wildfire and everyone will want a piece of the action.

    • 3 years ago
  • oomlaut
  • hunzedog
  • hunzedog
  • Conniepae
  • Conniepae
    • 0
      Conniepae  

    • President Obama could change things with the stroke of a pen. He could reclassify cannabis hemp and let the conversation begin. Cannabis should not be classified as equal to heroin and cocaine! That’s just madness!

      President Nixon is responsible for the classification of cannabis. He left office in shame, but left his shameful drug policy behind. It's astounding that individuals have continued to use the ‘war on cannabis’ for political purposes. 'Tuff on drugs'! Using fixed facts and spin and draconian police force, to make ordinary Americans afraid of a plant, which has been around thousands of years. Cannabis hemp has history!

      They implemented a 'Drug Czar' to silence voices of decent. They initiated drug testing, which was unable to distinguish when someone smoked cannabis. The current tests do not detect when one smokes, so one can’t even smoke on their own time, without fear of losing ones job. That’s madness too!

    • 3 years ago
  • Jerrigity
    • 0
      Jerrigity  

    • You said it, TentativeChaos! And you know, this might be the "guinea pig" Obama needs to continue what he kinda started when he called off Federal raids in Cali. If he can say "This has breathed life back into Oakland! What could it do for our entire economy? Yes we can!", then we could see a change nationwide. (sigh & cry)

    • 3 years ago
  • bailey78
    • 0
      bailey78  

    • OK this is a great start . now to get the rest of the Nation to join in on the taxing of the weed. Tax my weed tax my seed then leave me be

    • 3 years ago
  • TentativeChaos
  • GodsnLiberals
  • regularrf
    • 0
      regularrf  

    • The hell with giving the government more funds
      the prices are way too high now start now and in six months you wii have your own home grown weed
      and you won't be in the poor house.

    • 3 years ago
  • MinneapolisMafia
    • 0
      MinneapolisMafia  

    • Disgusting! More money for this uber corrupt fascist regime!? This is why I'm for decriminalization and not legalization! Let 'Rome' burn! Arnold, Obama, Bush, there all the same SCUM! Wake up folks! We NEED a revolution BADLY! Leave ME and MY GANJA free and alone! I LOVE my land. I HATE the regime!
      The same idiots voted for Obama...LOL!

    • 3 years ago
  • PatrioticAstronaut
  • phillyphil
    • 0
      phillyphil  
    • MinneapolisMafia:

      @minneapolismafua:
      while i agree that our funds are not appropriated fairly in this country and that there are people who take advantage of the system, there is more to this issue. first, the state is bankrupt. funding is getting cut for things like education, safety, public health, social programs and other things that are good for our communities and help regular people. also, taxing pot further legitimizes its place in our society. it shows that we are progressing towards a day where we may change our attitude on the incredibly destructive "war on drugs..." nothing is perfect in this world, but taking the extreme point of view does not help anything. finding solutions takes more effort than simply pointing out problems.

    • 3 years ago
  • MinneapolisMafia
  • nik27
    • 0
      nik27  
    • MinneapolisMafia:

      You know phyllyphill ima have to agree with you. The war on drugs to me is nothing but a front for the politicians to get more money from scared ill informed americans. And to minneapolis man i couldnt agree more with you when you said "WE NEED A REVOLUTION BADLY"!!

    • 3 years ago
  • ras_menelik
  • MinneapolisMafia
  • ras_menelik
  • alivein85
    • 0
      alivein85  

    • I don't get why it's been so low: $1.20 per $1000? It makes it seem like a huge leap to $18 per $1000. Anyway though, I'm all for it.

    • 3 years ago
  • MinneapolisMafia
  • alivein85
  • shanklinmike
    • 0
      shanklinmike [removed]  

    • Glad that medical marijuana is legal!!!

      Completely pissed that these forceful Keynesians are so confused on taxation slavery that they can't take a step back to see the big picture of poverty and prosperity. They want more government?!?!?!? HUGE mistake...legalize pot AND DON'T place taxes on it! Cut centralized government monopoly spending and allow the People to have their power back!

    • 3 years ago
  • MinneapolisMafia
  • unimatrix0
    • 0
      unimatrix0  
    • shanklinmike:

      taxation is a good thing

      without taxation their would be more poverty for many, and prosperity for corporations.

      go back to school and take some basic econ classes, and stop listening to that silly old man!

    • 3 years ago
  • N_Dank
  • MinneapolisMafia
  • sk8r408
  • MinneapolisMafia
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