As California barrels toward the legalization of recreational marijuana Jan. 1, Sacramento officials are tying up loose regulatory ends to ease the way here in the capital.
But the city auditor's office found a stumbling block in terms of tax collection. Some of Sacramento's 30 medical marijuana dispensaries have been under-reporting their earnings, meaning the city isn't receiving all the tax dollars it's owed. The current tax rate for dispensaries is 4 percent of gross receipts, and that's on top of the annual $20,000 permit fee.
Joe Devlin's official title is Chief of Cannabis Policy and Enforcement, but in other words-- he's Sacramento's first ever "Pot Czar."
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Even with dispensaries under-reporting income, he said, the city has raked in a pretty penny from medicinal marijuana.
"Last year, our 30 dispensaries generated about $4.8 million in General Fund revenue. That goes towards contributing towards everything that's funded through the General Fund, such as police, firefighters, parks," Devlin said, further explaining that the $20,000 annual permit fee "pays for the inspection and administration of the Cannabis Office."
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