In 2021, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors gave the green light for cannabis to be legally grown and sold in the unincorporated areas of the county.
Now, five dispensaries exist in El Cajon, Ramona and Escondido. If passed, Measure A, a countywide ballot measure, would impose a sales tax on cannabis businesses in the unincorporated areas of the county.
Decision 2022
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“I think we need a safe, regulated and legal cannabis system, but an important component of having that is that you have to have a mechanism in place to make sure that the cannabis industry is paying the taxes that they pay in all of the incorporated cities where they operate,” said San Diego County Board of Supervisors chair Nathan Fletcher.
Dispensaries that exist in a city where there already is a tax wouldn’t be double taxed. If Measure A passes, the county estimates the taxes could generate anywhere from $3 million to 5.5 million, which would go into the general fund for services and infrastructure. The San Diego County Taxpayers Association said that’s why it opposes the measure.
“The problem with Measure A is the unincorporated part of the county gets taxed, but there’s no guarantee that the money is used for the general obligations created in the unincorporated part of the county, and that’s unfair,” said Haney Hong, president and CEO of the taxpayers association.
Fletcher said that people who use the dispensaries might not live in the unincorporated areas of the county, and even people who do live there take advantage of many of the countywide services that are paid for by the county’s general fund.
The San Diego County Taxpayers Association said it supports a similar measure on the ballot in Encinitas, Measure L. Voters there approved cannabis to be legally grown and sold in 2020. Now they will decide if they want to support a sales tax for the four future dispensaries the city will supply with permits one day. The taxpayers association said it supports Measure L because it ensures that the revenue generated through the potential taxes will be spent in the same place as the businesses being taxed.
