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Medical Marijuana: Oakland Cannabis Community Offers City Help on Taxes

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #579)
Drug War Issues
Budgets/Taxes/Economics
Medical Marijuana
Politics & Advocacy
State & Local Legislatures

Three Oakland city council members want to raise taxes on medical marijuana revenues, and, as is rarely the case, the objects of that potential tax are fine with that. The proposed business tax rate on medical marijuana sales would double, from $12 to $24 per each $1,000 in gross revenues, according to a report from BizJournals.com.

Oaksterdam tent, San Francisco Cannabis Day 2005 (Tim Castleman, courtesy SF Bay Area IndyMedia)
The move is being championed by council members Rebecca Kaplan, Nancy Nadel, and Jean Quan. The trio reported in an agenda report dated for next week that the tax increase could bring in somewhere between $200,000 and $400,000 a year in additional revenues for the city. That suggests medical marijuana sales in the city are running somewhere between $16 million and $32 million a year.

Richard Lee, founder of Oaksterdam University, owner of the Bulldog Cafe and SR-71 dispensary, and primary champion of Oaksterdam, the notion of revitalizing a hunk of downtown Oakland through the marijuana industry, said he had been working with council members on the proposal and that the industry was behind it. "We believe we should be paying more taxes, and we want to help the city more in its economic crisis," Lee said.

Lee also suggested that taxes should not be borne solely by dispensaries, but also by suppliers and nurseries. That would help further legitimate the industry, he said.

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Comments

Anonymous (not verified)

In case the fools that get fooled again, and again, and again, and again, hadn't heard yet... Dictator Obama already said no... to marijuana or hemp re-legalization as economic stimulus!

Obama thinks marijuana re-legalization is a crazy scheme hatched by the crazy, paranioid, libertarians running amok in the internet.

He/Obama, despite what democrats think, is just another naked dictator all to eager to ignore the rule of lawful laws.

So fuck him... along with the long list of other gov't criminals... hiding in plain sight!

Fri, 04/03/2009 - 7:11pm Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

Oregon/Northern California finest certified organic,fairly traded clothing and undergarments,shoes,canvas items all made from organically farmed medical marijuana stems. Coming soon. Also money printed on the same and backed by the value of the worlds heirloom seed stocks hemp hemp hooray our jobs are restored today! Thank you to all the hard working people whove helped make this happen thank you Jack Herer thank you all love and blessings Looking forward to seeing everyone at the restored workplaces from Keith

Wed, 04/08/2009 - 5:37pm Permalink
Anonymous (not verified)

As a 27 year former resident of the great city of Oakland, I can attest that the new MJ industry there has helped 'pep-up' the redeveloped downtown area. Oakland is a world-class city, with high-end sports, music, dining, and tourism.

Let Oakland, one of this country's most racially diverse and progressive cities, experiment with the idea of being an 'Amsterdam (Holland) Clone'. It will attract tourists like a Mecca, and generate beaucoup bucks for the city whose downtown area was once a blighted, second-rate neighborhood, but is now becoming one of the hottest, slickest, most cool places on Earth !!

Wed, 04/15/2009 - 1:59pm Permalink

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