Washington State Senate Votes to Eliminate Excise Taxes on Recreational Cannabis Sales
With a 26 to 22 vote, 
Washington’s full Senate has given approval to Senate Bill 6062, a proposal to eliminate several excise taxes on recreational cannabis sales.
Under Washington’s current recreational cannabis tax structure, cannabis is taxed 25% at three different levels, when producers sell to processors, when processors sell to retailers, and when retailers sell to end consumers. This tax structure has led to prices on recreational cannabis to be considerably higher than that of Colorado, where cannabis is taxed just once.
Senate Bill 6062 would remove the excise tax on cannabis sales by producers and processors, with the only tax being placed on retail sales. The tax would, however, be raised from 25% to 37%.
Senate Bill 6062 now heads to the House of Representatives for consideration.
– TheJointBlog
Marty White
That’s a good start but my personal opinion is that it needs to be a little lower then 37% ,but it is a start for sure
Erin
This headline is irresponsibly WRONG & misleading. Bill 6062 eliminates the 3-tier tax structure of 25% at each level for producers,processors, & retailers. It INSTEAD moves it to a one-time 37% excise tax at retail stores for the customer to pay. This lowers the excise tax somewhat for the businesses but puts the tax burden on the consumer. 6062 also eliminates the Dedicated MJ Fund which would have allocated funds to healthcare services (many for low-income) & instead puts it into an education fund to try to help w/ the McCleary mess. It eliminates the LSD Fund which is essential for the cannabis research bill. It gives 50% of the remaining funds to local jurisdictions for criminal justice purposes- that means more cannabis cops. This bill is NOT something to celebrate and your headline is confusing people. It does NOT eliminate the excise tax, & it certainly doesn’t eliminate it for the patients they’re trying to push into the recreational system with this bill’s companion to be passed, 5052.
Mark Hill
What other agricultural commodity is taxed @ 37%? Wheat…no, Cattle…no, Barley…no. Fair NO.
Joe M
Is medicine taxed in Washington State? No. Is cannabis? Yep sure is.