Legal cannabis cultivators and manufacturers in unincorporated Sonoma County will get a tax break in the coming fiscal year. That's in store after a 3-2 vote Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors, approving a reset of the tax rate for qualifying specific operators to $0 for FY26-27.
The move, supported by Supervisors Lynda Hopkins, James Gore and board Chair Rebecca Hermosillo, marks the latest step the board majority has taken to slowly steer the county toward eliminating the tax altogether.
The board also on Tuesday unanimously voted to create a new system for cannabis businesses to get licensed annually, with a starting charge set at more than $500, revenue from which is expected to cover the cost of running the county's commercial cannabis governance program. The supervisors who supported the tax break questioned why the levy was needed if the business license revenue would cover program costs.
"Why are we choosing one form of agriculture to tax when we're not taxing the other ones?" Hopkins said Tuesday. The county is expected to bring in $10,082 from the business license program but will face a $160,000 funding gap due to forgone tax revenue in the 2026-27 fiscal year.
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