California officials say the state collected over a quarter billion dollars in cannabis tax revenue during the third quarter of 2024, according to a San Joaquin Valley Sun report.
The state collected $250.5 in cannabis tax dollars so far during Q3 2024 including $148.4 million in excise taxes and $102 million in sales taxes on licensed cannabis businesses. Additionally, with some outstanding returns still yet to be accounted for, the Q3 total sum is expected to increase, the report said.
However, the Q3 total falls short of the $269 million in second-quarter cannabis taxes posted by the state this year, which included $157.7 million in excise taxes and $111.3 million from the sales tax. The Q2 returns also included a program to compensate eligible vendors up to 20% of the excise tax paid during cannabis product sales over 12 months, through which more than $900,000 was retained. The program will end December 31, 2025.
Despite an unstable industry facing competition from the unregulated market — and, until recently, the market for federally legal hemp-based cannabinoid products — California has generated over $6.5 billion in cannabis tax revenue since legalizing adult-use cannabis in January 2018. That includes $3.4 billion in excise taxes on the industry, $2.6 billion in sales taxes, and $501 million from a cultivation tax that lawmakers eliminated in 2022.
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