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Ventura County Star: Newsom signs bill lowering retail weed tax
- Laura Braden
- Sep 22
- 1 min read
EXCERPT:
The legal cannabis industry has been lobbying for tax relief even before the July 1 increase, and applauded the governor's signing of the bill.
"California customers absolutely felt this hike at the register, and they vote with their wallets," Lauren Carpenter, the co-founder and CEO of the cannabis retail company Embarc, said in an email interview. Embarc owns 17 dispensaries in California, including one in Ventura.
"Reducing the tax back to 15% is an effort to help level the playing field and keep legal cannabis accessible for Californians shopping at licensed dispensaries," Carpenter said.
The state excise tax is usually the biggest single tax on legal weed, but it’s far from the only one. Cannabis retailers must also pay standard state and local sales taxes, and most cities and counties that allow retail sales also charge an additional local tax. When the excise tax was at 19%, combined state and local taxes added as much as 40% to the cost of legal cannabis, dispensary owners told The Star in July.
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"I've had about a dozen meetings with legislators this session discussing AB 564 and other vital reforms, and I'm encouraged by the nearly universal understanding that this tax relief for consumers is just one piece of a much larger puzzle," Carpenter said. "We need comprehensive illicit market enforcement because you can't compete with operators who pay no taxes and follow no regulations."
