Medical cannabis is now tax-free in New Jersey as provisions of the Jake Honig Compassionate Use Medical Cannabis Act implementing the tax cut took effect on July 1, NJ Biz reports. Prior to the final reductions, medical cannabis was the only medicine in the state subject to tax.
Before July 1, 2020, medical cannabis in New Jersey was subject to a 6.625% tax, which is the state’s sales tax. Jake’s Law reduced that tax to 4% on July 1, 2020; 2% on July 1, 2021; and fully reduced the tax on July 1, 2022.
Honig was a 7-year-old New Jersey boy with brain cancer whose symptoms were partially relieved by medical cannabis. He passed away in 2018 following a five-year cancer battle and state lawmakers passed the bill with his namesake on July 2, 2019.
Adult-use cannabis taxes are not affected by Jake’s Law.
Several other states, including Alaska, Delaware, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Vermont, and Washington do not levy sales taxes on medical cannabis sales. Medical cannabis sales in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia are either subject to state taxes, excise taxes – or a combination of both – or businesses are required to pay gross receipts taxes and that cost could be passed on to patients.
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