Sonoma County, California Drops Taxes by Nearly Half in Bid to Save Cannabis Farmers
High Times
Cannabis farmers in California are burdened with high taxes, but Sonoma County farmers will have some relief at the local level by slashing cultivation taxes nearly in half. The County of Sonoma Board of Supervisors announced in a March 17 press release that they recently agreed to amend the Cannabis Business Tax ordinance to reduce the fiscal year 2021-2022 cannabis cultivation tax rates by 45% through June 30, 2023. The reduced rates will be applied retroactively—going back to July 1, 2021, with the goal to ease financial hardship for local cannabis operators. The projected loss in revenue from the tax reduction will be offset by a current and projected county cannabis tax revenue surplus that exceeds program operating costs. Taxes collected in fiscal year 2020-2021 from 183 cannabis operators totaled $3,634,230—compared to $2 million in estimated annual operating costs. On April 5, county staff plan to present an amended ordinance reflecting the temporary tax drop, as well as a resolution extending the January 31 and April 30 due date to May 31 for cultivation tax payments. The due date for all cannabis taxes was previously extended from January 31 to April 30. "We were putting people out of business with our policy, so this is the right thing to do," said District 4 Supervisor James Gore, Chair of the Board of Supervisors. "The reduced cultivation tax rates are needed to account for changes in the market and our Board's policy direction. The revenue surplus in our cannabis program will support operational costs for two years as we transition to a new tax model and policy framework. We're committed to getting this issue right for Sonoma County, and that means continuing to work between neighborhoods and industry advocates, learning from other counties, and finding local solutions that are fair and sustainable…
Excerpt only ...
READ MORE BELOW
Source : Sonoma County, California Drops Taxes by Nearly Half in Bid to Save Cannabis Farmers
reposted by Cannabis News World
No comments:
Post a Comment