To Tax Pot, Or Not? Oakland Votes Tuesday

The color of money. (Photo: chron.ron)

By Steve Elliott in Chronic City

Mail-in voting closes Tuesday, July 21 on Measure F, a new ordinance in Oakland which would impose a special tax on sales of medical marijuana in the city's dispensaries. The measure would make Oakland the first city in the United States to have a business tax category for marijuana merchants.

Dispensaries have already been paying a rate of $1.20 per $1,000 of gross receipts. Measure F would create a separate category for marijuana sellers, at a rate of $18 per $1,000 of sales. Sales taxes is already assessed on purchases.

Many activists see the proposed ordinance as an incremental step toward complete legalization. After all, once government bean counters associate the marijuana business with a positive revenue stream, they're likely going to think in much more favorable terms about the herb -- and be a lot less inclined to crack down on dispensaries.

Read the rest at Chronic City in the S.F. Weekly blog, "The Snitch":

Chronic City: To Tax Pot, Or Not? Oakland Votes Tuesday | Digg story