Oakland May Cut Weed Tax
Customers were greeted by name as they walked into Purple Heart Patient Center on a recent Friday afternoon. The Jack London district store is the longest operating cannabis retailer in Oakland, and it’s busy.
But despite the shop's steady business and strong reputation in the city, owner Keith Stevenson doesn’t know how he will afford to pay city taxes this March, which he estimates will be half a million dollars.
He could sign up for a payment plan — $50,000 a month for 10 months — but that, too, will leave him in a deficit, he said. “We’ll likely be taxed out of business,” said Stevenson, who, in 2006, became the first African American to own a cannabis business license in the nation.
With the roll out of recreational cannabis last year, the city of Oakland began charging cannabis retailers an additional 10 percent tax on total annual revenue. Their taxes on projected income for 2019 are due in March. This is on top of the 15 percent tax retailers pay in excise tax for the cost of goods, as well as the roughly 10 percent sales tax to the state of California.
Read more: https://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/oakland-may-cut-weed-tax/Content?oid=24770238
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