Barbara Yaffe: Vancouver needs a tax regime for marijuana sales

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VANCOUVER — To tax or not to tax — that is the unanswered question now that Vancouver City Council has decided to regulate its marijuana dispensaries.

Various levels of government are finding themselves in an awkward situation as they determine whether to impose taxation on the businesses — and thereby confer further legitimacy on a commercial activity related to cannabis.

According to Canada’s Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, cannabis possession remains a federal offence unless it is for medicinal use and the user has a doctor’s prescription.

Vancouver’s decision with respect to regulation deals only with the city government’s own powers, including authority to collect business licence fees of $30,000 per dispensary. But where tax policy is concerned, the municipal move leaves only giant question marks.

The province has been cautious in its posture, with Health Minister Terry Lake last spring approving the city’s action: “They are just operating in...

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