Redding could join a host of California cities considering a tax on marijuana.

Vice Mayor Missy McArthur has asked her fellow City Council members to discuss the idea Tuesday of taxing medical cannabis sales at the city’s 19 permitted collectives.

McArthur said she wants Redding to be ready with a local tax in case voters approve Proposition 19 on Nov. 19. The measure would legalize marijuana cultivation and possession, the Redding Record Searchlight reports, and allow local government to tax commercial marijuana production and sales.

“I’m not pro-tax, but whenever you are doing something for your health, society has to pay for those things,” McArthur said. “Taxes on medical marijuana are like having taxes on cigarettes and alcohol.”

The city already charges cannabis clubs permit fees to cover the cost of police inspections, background checks and other compliance measures mandated by the city’s decision late last year to regulate these nonprofit enterprises.

The city faces an Aug. 3 deadline to prepare a medicinal cannabis sales tax measure for the November ballot.

Cannabis clubs already pay state sales taxes on their transactions. But at least one club owner said he favors a local tax in addition.

“Instead of the sales tax going to Sacramento and never being seen again in this community, this would be something that is directly taxes and go back to the Shasta Women’s Refuge or the jail,” said Allen Perry, who co-owns the River Valley Collective downtown.

Perry said he’s not concerned a local tax would make medicinal cannabis unaffordable. He compared the tax to tobacco taxes.

“I’m sure our patients here would understand those extra two pennies are going back to their neighborhood,” Perry said.

Other cities in California are considering broader taxes on all marijuana sales and production, should Prop. 19 pass.

Berkeley, Sacramento and Long Beach already have approved companion marijuana tax measures for the November ballot, which, if approved, would kick in if voters also approve Prop. 19. City officials have said the taxes would bring badly-needed revenue to their coffers.

Los Angeles, San Jose and the Sacramento suburb of Rancho Cordova are considering similar tax measures, according to news reports.

Oakland last June became the first city in the state and nation to tax cannabis collectives. The city imposes a 1.8 percent gross receipts tax on the four licensed medical cannabis dispensaries in town.

Oakland expects to collect $1.5 million in marijuana taxes this year.

« »