{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"KZYX News","title":"State cultivation tax repealed, county election results in","html":"<iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https://share.transistor.fm/e/5aa4ea46\"></iframe>","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":389,"description":"July 6, 2022 —  As the cannabis market plummets, the state lifted its cultivation tax of $161 per pound of product, effective as of July first. Cannabis advocates say that’s an important step, but far from being enough to make the market sustainable.\r\n\r\nAnd with Mendocino County’s final election results in, the assessor-clerk-recorder’s office is already looking forward to November’s general election.\r\n\r\nLauren Schmitt, of our sister station KMUD, interviewed Ross Gordon, policy director of the Humboldt County Growers Alliance and policy chair of Origins Council, an organization that partners with  six regional cannabis trade associations in northern California, including Mendocino, advocating for changes to state cannabis policy. He says cannabis is still heavily overtaxed. “Proposition 64 established a pretty onerous state tax framework,” he opined; “which included a tax on cultivation, which was most recently $161 a pound for every pound of cannabis sold off of a farm; and also established a 15% excise tax levied at  the retail level on the consumer.” In Humboldt County, Measure S, a voter initiative, allows permitted farms to be taxed at $1-$3 a square foot, regardless of how much cannabis is sold. Gordon said earlier this year, advocates campaigned to lower the Measure S taxes, “given just the general unsustainability of the tax rate, but also…the complete collapse in wholesale prices in cannabis, particularly for small farmers, going from maybe $1000 a pound to $300 a pound on average, created a situation where these taxes, which were always really onerous, have really become absolutely unsustainable.” \r\nIn 2016, Mendocino County voters passed Measure AI, which imposed a cannabis business tax of 2.5% on gross receipts per fiscal year, with minimum rates of $1,250 for 2,500 square feet, up to $5,000 for grow sites greater than 5,000 square feet. An advisory measure directed that those taxes go towards enforcement, mental health, county roads, and increased...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/xZpAumwbhFUpJUYcwaQ1-q6snzOyqAm13l7cW6AWPCM/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9mMzkz/NjAwNjc2OWMyZmFk/YWY2YTdmYjI5M2Mz/YWMxNy5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}