Proposed Bill Seeks to Give California’s Legal Cannabis Industry a Tax Break

Heavy state taxes and a growing black market continue to crush the state’s legal pot sales.

A customer buys cannabis products at a store in West Hollywood, Calif., on Jan. 2, 2018. David McNew/Getty Images

A California legislator announced a bill on March 24 to give the legal cannabis industry a tax break from the state’s high taxes as retailers struggle to survive a growing threat from the black market.

Assemblyman Matt Haney (D-San Francisco) introduced Assembly Bill 564 to prevent the state’s scheduled cannabis tax increase in July that “would devastate California’s legal cannabis industry by forcing many small businesses to close and driving even more consumers toward the illegal market,” according to a news release Monday.