How do taxes work on retail cannabis?

California’s statewide excise tax is added to your total first, which is 15% of you cannabis subtotal. Then, any local cannabis taxes are added next, which is always calculated based on the sum of your subtotal and excise tax. Finally, your municipality’s regular sales tax is added last, and the sales tax is applied to the sum of your subtotal, excise tax, and local cannabis tax.

For instance, if you are a recreational consumer and make a $100 cannabis purchase in the city of Los Angeles, here is how the taxes are calculated:

Subtotal: $100.00
Excise Tax (15% of Subtotal): $15.00
Local Cannabis Tax in Los Angeles (10% applied to Subtotal + Excise): $11.50
Sales Tax (9.5% local sales tax applied to Subtotal + Excise + Local Cannabis Taxes*): $12.02
TOTAL: $138.52

We know taxes are high (and confusing) for recreational cannabis. Ganja Goddess has to collect and pay taxes as required by state and local governments.

*On our invoices, the sales tax rate always displays a percentage higher than the rate actually charged because it is showing the sales tax owed as a percentage of your subtotal. This is a bug we’re working to fix on our invoices!