| Photo: Jeff Chiu/AP |
| San Jose’s medical marijuana dispensaries paid $290,000 in taxes to the city for March — even though they are officially considered illegal |
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.
Until the money was counted, nobody had been quite sure exactly how much San Jose’s medical marijuana tax might yield for the city’s empty coffers.
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.