San Jose Collects First Month's Marijuana Tax: $290,000

​Excerpts form San Jose Collects First Month's Marijuana Tax: $290,000 - Toke of the Town

San Jose, California now has its first month's worth of marijuana tax in hand. "As of May 10, 73 medical marijuana collectives have remitted approximately $290,000 in taxes for the month of March," the city announced on Friday.

Starting March 1, San Jose slapped a seven percent tax on medical marijuana dispensaries under a measure city voters overwhelmingly approved last November. Even though San Jose officially considers all 100 or so of its dispensaries to be unlawful, pot providers are still required to pay the special marijuana tax to the cash-strapped city.

Most dispensary owners always assumed taxation would also mean legal acceptance, but now it appears the beleaguered providers will be catching it from both sides: they're still subject to police raids at the same time they are responsible for paying taxes.

This is a great step forward but it is also dis hearting that even when paying tax you are still subjected to being raided.