Cali Libs Love Legal Weed, But Then Looked at Sales Tax
Though California liberals and libertarians (and a few conservatives as well) love that their state legalized recreational marijuana starting Jan. 1, I doubt any of them appreciate their leftist government’s decision to tax marijuana through the roof.
Countless receipt snapshots posted to social media show marijuana users in California paying tax rates as high as 26.75 percent for their chosen vice.
For instance, one marijuana user from Berkeley who paid $120 for seven grams of a strain of “All Star White OG” marijuana wound up paying a whopping $32.10 in taxes. I’m sorry, but that’s insanely high.
Look:
According to CNN, “Consumers will pay a sales tax ranging from 22.25% to 24.25%, which includes the state excise tax of 15%, and additional state and local sales taxes ranging from 7.25% to 9.25%.”
Marijuana consumers in California could therefore be looking at tax rates as potentially high as 33.5 percent, or basically a third of their purchase price.
Because of these rates, some potheads have already expressed interest in sticking to the marijuana black market or just growing their own pot:
The beauty of these exorbitant taxes is that they’re providing California’s myriad of liberal potheads with a reality check about the true nature of taxes.
Liberals often demand that legislators tax businesses through the roof so that the rich pay their fair share, whatever that means.
Now cue CNN again, which notes that marijuana retailers must “pay a tax ranging from 1% to 20% of gross receipts, or $1 to $50 per square foot of marijuana plants,” while marijuana farmers “will be taxed $9.25 per ounce for flower, and $2.75 per ounce for leaves.”
And that, my dear California liberals, is why you’re being forced to pay up to 33.5 percent in taxes when you buy your beloved pot: Because the people actually producing and selling the weed are themselves being taxed to the hilt.
And what happens when businesses are overtaxed? Said businesses displace the costs onto you, the consumer. We conservatives generally refer to these concepts as economics, but for your sake, let’s call it marijuananomics, OK?
Here’s the truth: If you want to put a stop to these steep taxes, I suggest you ring up your Democrat lawmakers and demand they cut (not increase) taxes — kind of like how President Donald Trump’s done on the federal level.
Until then, I recommend you suck it up, because ultimately, you get the government you deserve.
Please share this story on Facebook and Twitter and let us know what you think about the tough lesson liberal potheads in California are being taught about economics, aka marijuananomics.
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