Taxes

Nearly 30 California cannabis companies have raised the alarm to warn Gov. Gavin Newsome and legislative leaders that the state’s legal cannabis industry “is collapsing” due to excessive taxes and regulations.

Illinois will attribute another $45 million derived from cannabis taxes toward community grants for communities most impacted by the war on drugs.

Some California cannabis operators are considering withholding their tax payments in protest of the state’s increasing cannabis tax rate. The proposed action was described as a “California Weed Party.”

San Francisco, California will again delay implementing a voter-approved cannabis tax with the goal of curbing the illicit market.

In its first year of adult-use cannabis sales, Arizona has raised $106 million dollars in tax revenue. The money is earmarked for public safety initiatives.

Alaska cannabis businesses owe nearly $1.8 million in back taxes due to a flat-tax structure paid by growers instead of at the point-of-sale.

Cannabis legalization in Germany could be worth around 3.4 billion euros in tax revenues and about 1.3 billion euros in cost savings.

Worth $447 million and weighing close to 67,000 pounds, Arkansas’ total medical cannabis sales have generated $45 million in tax revenue since dispensaries opened in 2019.

David Wayne Jenkins, owner of now-defunct Castle Management, is facing 33 counts of grand theft of labor for failing to pay employees.

Colorado voters rejected a proposal to raise cannabis taxes in the state as part of a plan to create an independent education agency.

The founder of California cannabis dispensary Natural Healing Center is facing a maximum prison sentence of 13 years after pleading guilty to bribery and filing a false tax return.

The executive branch and legislative negotiators in Rhode Island are close to reaching a deal on regulating adult cannabis use, but additional discussions are needed for agreement on issues including taxes.

The owner of a Massachusetts cannabis delivery company was sentenced in federal court to four years in prison for tax evasion, money laundering, and cannabis distribution and possession.

Half of the total revenue derived from Arkansas’ medical cannabis sales — $25 million — has been collected over the last nine months.

An Ohio bill being circulated by Republican Rep. Jamie Callender would allow sales and possession for adults 21-and-older and levy a 10% tax on retail sales.

Keith Stephenson is the founder and CEO of Purple Heart, the longest-running cannabis dispensary in Oakland, California, and the country’s first Black-owned cannabis business.

The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement Act which removes cannabis from the federal schedule of controlled substances and expunges federal cannabis convictions.

Humboldt County, California has approved a $1 million emergency grant program to help cannabis cultivators after wholesale cannabis prices dropped.

Only 47 of Maine’s 500 towns and cities—comprising about 29% of the state’s population—permit any adult-use cannabis industry operations.

California-based Catalyst Cannabis Co. filed a lawsuit last week against the state’s Department of Cannabis Control over product diversion due to high tax rates.

Missouri officials transferred more than $6.8 million of the state’s $8.9 million in cannabis tax revenue to the Veterans Commission, as required under the state’s medical cannabis law.

Michigan introduced a group of bipartisan bills that would reduce the number of patients allowed per medical cannabis caregiver from five to just one and also limit the amount of plants caregivers could grow from 60 to 12.

Cannabis sales in Maine set yet another record in August, topping $10 million in one month for the first time.

Humboldt County is set to award more than $2 million in grants through Project Trellis, the county’s micro-grant, marketing, and local equity program.