On the first day of July already relatively high marijuana taxes in California went up more with the kicking in of a tax increase from the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. It had looked like this tax increase would likely be avoided. But, here it is.
On June 4, I wrote about the promising development for the state’s legal marijuana market and its customers that the state’s assembly two days earlier had unanimously approved legislation that would put a five year delay on the imposition of the then impending tax increase. But, as reported last week by Lester Black at SFGATE, preventing the tax increase depended on the state senate also approving the assembly bill in June or the tax increase delay provision making it into a budget bill to be passed during the remained of the month. Neither happened. The result is something common from the California government — a tax increase.