ANN ARBOR – On Four20Post Jan. 27 we explored recommendations from the Social Equity workgroup created by the Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency for new taxes on marijuana sales to raise millions of dollars that would be used to improve diversity and help disadvantaged groups succeed in the industry.
On the show to discuss the recommendations were cannabis advocates Rick Thompson, Jamie Cooper and Anqunette Sarfoh who worked on the MRA advisory group. Also on the show were cannabis healthcare and training experts respectively Cathleen Graham and Karen Korn. To watch the show, click on https://fb.watch/3hI25gXtWb/
Data collected by the MRA in December show that only 3.8 percent of those with an ownership interest in licensed recreational marijuana businesses in Michigan are Black and only 1.5 percent are Hispanic or Latino.
According to the report, levying such a tax on the $319.3 million in medical marijuana sales in 2020 would have generated close to $9.9 million in tax revenue, with about $3.3 million going to social equity capital investment. Another 25 percent of the proceeds would go to the host municipality, 30 percent to the host county, 5 percent to the sheriff, and 10 percent to the Michigan Marijuana Medical Research Fund.
Medical marijuana sales, legal since 2008, are already subject to the 6 percent sales tax. For recreational marijuana, which has been legal since 2018 and is already subject to a 6 percent sales tax and a 10 percent excise tax, creating a new 1.5 percent tax on transactions between license holders, such as sales between producers and retailers, would be added to help meet diversity goals.
Watch on-demand at Four20Post.