Buying legal weed and marijuana products in California will get slightly more expensive starting July 1 after state legislators failed to stop a state excise tax increase on the industry this month.
Effective Tuesday, marijuana retailers will pay 19 percent of gross receipts from cannabis and cannabis product sales—a jump of 4 percentage points.
The excise tax is paid in addition to state sales tax and any city or county taxes applicable to the business’s location.
California Cannabis Industry Attorney Jared Schwass said the decision to move ahead with the tax was “disappointing.”
“California legislators fail to act,” Schwass posted on X last week. “Due to that failure, the California cannabis tax is still on schedule to increase from 15 percent to 19 percent on July 1st. It is disappointing to read that [Sen.] Mike McGuire was against freezing the automatic increase because his constituents, who are already struggling to stay in the regulated market, will feel the pain of this increased tax.”…