| Photo: Matt Wright, Wikimedia Commons |
| Denver is now collecting 3.9 percent tax on medical marijuana sales. |
The Mile High City started collecting sales tax on medical marijuana today.
The City of Denver expects every medical marijuana dispensary in the city to pay 3.6 percent sales tax starting Dec. 1, reports Patricia Calhoun in Westword.
“Tax revenue agents will be meeting with all dispensaries, giving them the information,” said City Attorney David Fine.
According to Westword, Denver doesn’t have a list of all the dispensaries in town, but an optimistic Fine expressed confidence that the city will either find them, or they’ll find their way to the City Treasurer to pay the tax.
Colorado Attorney General John Suthers already ruled that the state can collect its 2.9 percent sales tax on sales of medical marijuana.
But the future of dispensaries in Denver and the rest of the state are still in limbo, with the Colorado Board of Health yet to decide if it’s going to redefine the “primary caregiver” role. As Westword reports, the Board has postponed a planned Dec. 16 meeting at which it was scheduled to do exactly that.
State Sen. Chris Romer is writing legislation that he’ll propose next session which will regulate dispensaries and license the growers who supply them.
City Councilman Charlie Brown will unveil his proposal tomorrow for regulating dispensaries in Denver. “We’re offering them a license to operate in our city,” he said. “They’ve got to be worthy of the public trust, and they have to live up to that.”