Tuesday was a fairly busy day at Embarc in Ventura. But that all could change come July due to a scheduled tax increase.
"I think it's just going to make it harder for the industry to thrive and therefore it will be less taxes for the county. So but again, I don't think it's just because of that, that one tax. I think it's an overall problem with the market and the fact that there's a glut and we have too much cannabis being grown," said Santa Barbara County Supervisor Laura Capps.
Cannabis dispensary owners are urging the California legislature to freeze the excise tax increase at its current 15% rate. If they fail, the tax is scheduled to increase to 19% on July 1st.
Embarc Co-Founder Dustin Moore says more taxes could crush retailers. "Even if we suffered a 10% reduction in sales as an industry, that at 19% tax, the state would actually end up losing money. And we feel with almost near certainty that an increase in the tax rate will further push folks from shopping in the licensed and legal market to the illicit, unlicensed market," said Moore.
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