Will Taxes Kill California's Golden Ganja Goose?

The world’s largest marijuana market is getting ready to legalize, and local cities and counties are looking to cash in.

Estimates put the California recreational marijuana market around $7 billion yearly, with $1 billion recoupable in state taxes. Now, with Prop. 64 to legalize adult use set for the November ballot, voters in two dozen cities and counties will also be looking at measures to tax medical and/or recreational marijuana at the local level.

Local taxes are a winner at the ballot box: several of them passed in 2010 and again in 2014. Two dozen jurisdictions across California already add extra retail taxes for medical marijuana businesses, notably Oakland, San Jose, Los Angeles, Santa Cruz and Shasta Lake.

Coming in on the low end of newly proposed cultivation fees is Yolo County, which is looking at charging $.50 per square foot. for CBD-dominant strains and $1.75 per square foot. for...

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