The state of California is likely to levy a 15% tax on the purchase of marijuana and all the related marijuana products, commencing from January 2018. As per the authentic sources, the legal marijuana market in California is faced with induction of new taxes that can impact product costs. Currently, a small bag containing medical marijuana of high quality costs USD 35 across the retail stores in Los Angeles. But next year, with climbing recreational sales and additional taxes, the price of the same is anticipated to rise to USD 50 or USD 60 – an increase of nearly up to 70%, cite reports.
For the uninitiated, cannabis leaves – the bottom-shelf items, find applications in ointments, candies, cannabis-laced foods, and concentrates. Professional cannabis leaf growers sell a bag filled with clippings to the producers for USD 50. Reports state that by January next year, the same bag of leaves can cost USD 44 more at a pound. Precisely, the tax payment on a bag possessing nearly seven to eight pounds of leaves is predicted to surpass the market price by five or six times the current rate.
Experts claim that the rise in tax rates falls among the state’s plans to induct its long-standing illegal market of selling medical marijuana into the country’s largest legal business. The redesigning & legalization of such a vast business have not apparently been witnessed in the country since the prohibition of selling marijuana culminated in 1933. Records claim that medical marijuana sale has been legalized in California since last two decades.
As per reports, voters residing in the southeast region of San Francisco have recently approved a tax that will rise to USD 25 a square foot for space used for marijuana plants. Researchers are of the view that the changes being brought forth in the state of California are likely to turn the state into a highly regulated economy.