A new campaign in Los Angeles has filed a proposed ballot item in the hopes of decreasing marijuana business taxes while also channeling cannabis tax revenue to the betterment of Los Angeles community equity and cannabis business social equity. Californians are taxed on legal cannabis multiple times in excessive amounts, seemingly before they have even had time to consider consuming the cannabis product. Additionally, cannabis businesses are taxed at a high rate with little consideration for individual earnings with realistic tax proportions.
This ballot aims to not only decrease taxes on cannabis products, but in doing so, it aims to also redirect those tax funds towards those avenues which will better serve the citizens of Los Angeles.
Expectations Should The Ballot Be Successful
In order for the ballet to make it to the voters come the November ballot, 65,000 signatures are required within 3 weeks. Should we succeed in this, and provided that the ballot is victorious, there are a few crucial wins for the cannabis industry that we can (hopefully) look forward to.
- Reduce Los Angeles’ marijuana business tax rate from 10% of total profits to a tax scheme that will be made up of three tiers based on earnings.
- The founding of a new cannabis business tax rate of 6% for businesses with revenues of $3.5 million or more, 2% for those with revenues of $300,000 to $3.5 million, and a $1,000 flat tax for companies with revenues of less than $300,000.
- Develop a specialized city fund that will provide monetary support to applicants for cannabis social equity licenses.
- A financial flow that will battle the illegal marijuana industry through civil tactics such as power outages and requiring landlords to stop catering to unlicensed cannabis enterprises.
- Instead of going to the city’s general treasury, marijuana tax revenue would be redirected to a community reinvestment fund.
This ballot is about more than just reducing the tax bracket for cannabis businesses and individuals, although that in itself is a major win for the legal marijuana market. It is about reforming the tax system from top to bottom in order to fight social inequity and correct an imbalanced tax system within the cannabis industry.
Concerns Surrounding The Cannabis Tax Relief Campaign
Lynne Lyman, one of the campaign’s organizers, is concerned about the qualification of the ballot due to a lack of funding and a very short window of time for the campaign to be successful. However, she has stated her belief that should the vote make it to the November ballot it will win, which is promising.
The cannabis tax relief campaign has already raised and invested almost $200,000 for this proposed revolutionary ballot, leaving only around $50,000 for signature gathering. Lyman calculated that hiring a professional signature-gathering agency would cost around $500,000.
This means that currently, the campaign is depending on volunteers and the aid of its L.A. cannabis business network. Lyman’s faith in the ballot means that we have one goal: to ensure that the vote receives 65,000 signatures, qualifying it for the November ballot!
If you are as passionate as we at Beard Bros are about reforming and improving the legal cannabis industry, have your say in the matter by signing the vote. The cannabis industry is making great strides toward removing the prohibition it has been under and gaining a foothold in legal and social circles that will allow it to develop into a full-fledged market. If you’d like to go a step further, become a volunteer today and help us gather those crucial signatures.
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