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Grover Beach marijuana tax goes on the ballot

August 2, 2016

legalize-marijuana-california-environmentThe Grover Beach City Council has placed a marijuana tax measure on the November ballot. If two thirds of voters support the initiative, it will be San Luis Obispo County’s first municipal tax on marijuana.

Grover Beach Council members gave final approval for the ballot measure on Monday. The initiative calls for taxes on medical marijuana sales and marijuana cultivation. Additionally, it proposes a tax on recreational marijuana sales, which is subject to the fate of a statewide legalization initiative that is also on the November ballot.

The city initiative calls for a 5 percent tax on medical marijuana sales based on gross receipts. Marijuana cultivation would be taxed based on on square footage licensed by the city. The ballot measure would place a $25 a square foot tax on the first 5,000 feet of cultivation space and a $10 a square foot tax on additional cultivation space.

If the state initiative passes, there will be a 15 percent statewide tax on the sale of marijuana for recreational use. The Grover Beach measure proposes an additional 10 percent tax, which would create a 25 percent tax on recreational marijuana sales in Grover Beach.

Grover Beach officials have touted the marijuana initiative as a way for the city to raise money. Officials estimate the marijuana tax could generate between $1 million and $2 million a year.

The city currently has ordinances in place that prohibit marijuana cultivation and brick and mortar dispensaries. However, the city council recently directed staff to plan comprehensive medical marijuana regulations, which would allow for the sale, transportation and cultivation of cannabis.

Several medical marijuana businesses have already expressed interest in opening operations in Grover Beach.

Grover Beach officials are attempting to woo marijuana businesses at a time when the majority of county supervisors are trying to crack down on them. A week ago, the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors voted to pursue an urgency ordinance that would enact a moratorium on new marijuana grows.

The vote came in response to marijuana growers and armed guards flooding into California Valley on the eastern edge of the county. However, Supervisor Adam Hill, Grover Beach’s representative on the county board, opposed the moratorium and called for SLO County to capitalize on the expanding marijuana industry.


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True, Kayakn. Both are Adam Hill gigs supported 100% by the Council. Not a peep of dissent. The Council is owned by Hill and has been since they voted to take Peterson off the APCD 3 years ago, all voting in lockstep with Shoals and Hill. Apparently Shoals is already asking how he can invest in his new ‘vision’ (hallucination?) for economic development.


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It doesn’t matter what they do or don’t do, it literally doesn’t matter.


The Side Show Bob’s of the world lost control of this issue years ago and they know it, so all that is left for them is bitterness, anger, resentment, and Donald Trump. They will forever believe that mass incarceration is a great idea, and you can’t make a man understand something when his salary depends on him not understanding it.


Consequently, he and his clown parade took themselves out of the picture years ago.


Then there’s the local yokel authorities who couldn’t enact prohibitions fast enough to keep the evil weed from their virgin shores despite the fact that even in the toss em’ in and lock em’ up environment, it’s always been easier to get a joint then it is to buy a sparkler. But now that they too have been over run by the citizens they purport to represent, they are rushing to cash in with absurd plans to “tax” every aspect of what has been taking place illegally for many decades. They can run all the spreadsheets they want, it doesn’t matter. The taxes weed business’s pay will be whatever they choose to pay, and not a penny more. Does anyone believe that people who act in the face of imprisonment will suddenly be brought to heel by a local sales tax authority. Please. Weed will be legal and those who fought to incarcerate and prohibit and finally tax will be invisible and irrelevant.


So they’ve lost and they know it, they’re just holding out for some crumbs that they’ll have zero ability to collect except from the willing.


California isn’t Colorado, Washington or any other state where recreationl weed is legal. In those state there was never any real number of dispensaries willing to openly defy the law, hence when the law changed they started from a blank canvas where all the new shops were properly permitted, regulated and tide with a pretty little bow. Here, there are many thousands of dispensaries that have long since swamped LE’s ability to shut them down, to say nothing of the delivery services and the cultivators who supply them. All of these people have operated under the threat of incarceration, and operated nonetheless. Do you really believe these people will be brought to heel by a Grover City sales tax demand? Please.


Open your eyes, understand the past and the arc of history to the current day, and from there seeing the future is really not that complicated or scary.


So, it doesn’t matter what they do or don’t do, it literally doesn’t matter.


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Pretty soon they will want to tax you for going to the bathroom. I’ll grow my own and share it with my friends thanks.


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Great idea. I’ll be helping my friends grow their own also, so they can share it with their friends. Let’s face it, the stuff is butt-easy to grow. Taxing the crap out of cannabis is going to drive it back underground when it becomes legal. Is this really what our esteemed leaders what to do?


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If you are operating a legal medical marijuana delivery service or dispensary service you are already required to pay the sales tax for the area or city in which you operate. Do these government officials understand this? Or is this a local tax on top of the already required state sales tax? Somebody needs to show they actually are using their head for more than holding their hat.


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I am sure Mayor Shoals is happy to spend lots of time talking about the Pot Tax, this deflects the light away from his action of giving away $100,00 of residents money to Hill’s wife’s organization, when Dee Torres-Hill SLO Connection is to say the questionable in it’s required paperwork and when there as so many more agencies, and unlike Torres group, local, that deserve the money and are not raising so many red flags in Sacramento.


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Laughable, but the potheads will get what they’ve been asking for, legal weed, but the black market will continue to flourish just as it does now. Colorado has already begun to experience it. Potheads don’t like to spend any more money for their weed so why buy taxed weed when you can get black market weed for cheaper? The whole thing was a scam!


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Laughable, your response that is. And obviously uneducated about the subject matter.


Here in the Evergreen State of Washington, people are confident and PROUD to buy weed from a state licensed retailer and farming source as opposed to the black market. We’re generating huge amounts of revenue for local projects while supporting local growers & retailers which is creating plenty of jobs…AND with the illegal ops being pushed out, we feel more safe and secure in our neighborhoods.


Get a clue Bob (and the rest of the U.S. for that matter) Only an idiot would buy from an illegal source. When you buy from the black market you know nothing about the source of it…here we know exactly where it was grown, it’s lab-tested so you know the strain, potency and are charged about the same as liquor.


The industry here is thriving!


NOBODY here is buying illegal weed…there is no scam Bob.


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Perfect! Now I know how I can show a “need” to possess an CCW permit.


“I need to protect my weed”.


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Lawsuits, lawsuits, lawsuits. As stated before I’m not an advocate of the marijuana initiative

How in the world do you get away with taxing one medical item and not the others? How do you get away taxing one recreational use, marijuana, and not other uses like the wines and vineyards? With the exception of the medical marijuana use what is the difference? Yes, I do believe that the passing of the recreational use of marijuana will have some negative affect although will it be more than other recreational uses of alcohol that we now have? How many drunk drivers do you think all of the wine tasting rooms are putting on our streets and highways every weekend catering to the tourist dollar? These are questions that will eventually have to be answered. And as usual, we the the taxpayer will be picking up the bills for the legal fights that will be ahead of us.


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This is the way Gov works, Step 1: illegal Step 2: an exception Step 3: if you pay you can play. Alcohol Is not illegal but Gov once made it illegal for a short while so that it could become legal after taxes. Gambling is now legal (Lotto) to support education and next will be prostitution to support Social Services. Simply put, after we spend our money on Gov we have very little remaining for the important things.


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