Voting Ends in Oakland on Increasing Marijuana Tax

Today marks the close of mail-in voting for Oakland’s Measure F, a new ordinance that’ll impose a special tax on the sale of medical cannabis in the city’s four dispensaries. If given the green light the measure would make Oakland the first city in the United States to have a business tax category for marijuana merchants. And, why not? Cannabis is this country’s largest cash crop doing a whopping $36 Billion a year. That shit rakes in more cash than corn and wheat combined.

Just last year Oakland alone sold more than $20 Million worth of medical cannabis. Currently those dispensaries are paying a minimum tax of $1.20 for ever $1,000 of weed sold. But get this, those compassionate dispensaries are pushing the envelope of compassion by offering to raise those tax rates to 18 bucks for every $1,000 of weed sold. The marijuana tax would bring in about $400,000 of annual revenue in Oakland alone. If adopted statewide, the taxes could be worth billions. Stay tuned as the results of the ballot will be announced soon.