Some of that may be that cannabis sales are shifting to unlicensed (and thus untaxed) dealers.
WSJ had an article last week about California and NY screwing up legalization but some numbers from California:
$5.4 billion in licensed sales last year vs $8.1 billion in unlicensed sales. Licensed sales have 10% city cannabis tax, 15% state excise tax, and 9.5% state sales tax. With taxes, licensing, etc etc licensed weed is twice as expensive.
incompetent politicians or political bodies have a habit of using whatever income is politically convenient to plug budget gaps. Marijuana is just the latest victim. Whether that destroys the market or ruins peoples lives is ignored so long as it politically tenable.
WSJ had an article last week about California and NY screwing up legalization but some numbers from California:
$5.4 billion in licensed sales last year vs $8.1 billion in unlicensed sales. Licensed sales have 10% city cannabis tax, 15% state excise tax, and 9.5% state sales tax. With taxes, licensing, etc etc licensed weed is twice as expensive.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/marijuana-legalization-dispensa...