Page 3 - Sonoma County Gazette March 2017

Cannabis Tax-Measure A
The County and the City have been working over the past two years to developing ordinances and policies to create comprehensive regulatory schemes for the cannabis industry tailored to address local needs.
More General Fund bucks. Fire and EMS services in Sonoma County have been neglected too long!
(Before the Community Meeting on February 21st - and the end of the Survey period, we posted information for readers on our website.)
Not to mention all these taxes from cultivation thru the chain will make it so expensive the industry will go underground...again.
All residents are encouraged to provide comments and suggestions on the recommended policies for the Board of Supervisors and Santa Rosa City Council to take under consideration.
I am asking some questions and offering my perspective on the Cannabis Business Tax Measure A.
Additional information on the County’s Ad Hoc, current laws and policies and the regulatory process can be found at http://sonomacounty. ca.gov/Cannabis/. Questions
and comments can be emailed to cannabis@sonoma-county.org.
We are jumping quickly to add a hefty tax onto an agricultural product. Citing tobacco as an example for this argument, it is an agricultural product that is taxed heavily, so, yes, it makes sense that recreational cannabis would be taxed similarly. Yes, taxation of the wine industry is the model
for this taxation of cannabis at every point, including point of sale: grape growers, vineyards, winemakers, wine sellers. But Measure A would set a precedent that could open the doors to heavily taxing any simply grown plant that the government sees as a way to grab more of our money in the form of taxes.
Growing
And speaking of simply grown... I am almost positive that once cannabis legalization goes into effect, MANY people will be growing their own. How would that be regulated? If
we follow the alcohol model, people would be able to grow a certain quantity for their own use. But who will police this, and how do we pay for this ridiculous policing?
How would the industry determine what is for recreational use and what is for medical use? I think that is nearly impossible. It would not be fair to apply this hefty tax onto a product that is totally for medical use by some users. That’s what big pharma is doing to sick people already, many of which are also in danger of losing their healthcare insurance with
Additional information on the City’s Subcommittee can be found at www. srcity.org/Cannabis.
Liz Martin
READER RESPONSES:
There are many more responses on the Gazette FACEBOOK page - these came to us via email...
March’s special election in Sonoma County is solely a MegaTax called
‘A’. Vote NO on this tax grab which goes directly into the General Fund where the county bureaucrats bloated pensions will suck it up while our infrastructure and roads decay.
Medical Use vs. Recreational Use
Herb is already too expensive. Remember that the Summer of Love was fueled with $6.00 lids and $65.00 kilos.
Austin Navarro, Cazadero.
It’s another general tax and regardless of the supposed use of the funds it will all go to shoring up our disastrous public employee pension program. We have to stop giving them money to shore up public pensions, then maybe our elected officials will have to finally do their job and clean up this mess, sorry unions, you’ve drained our resources for far too long.
I’m voting no. Stephen Hann
this present administration. If she hasn’t already, Brownie Mary will be turning in her grave.
My understanding is that no matter how many states have legalized cannabis, and even though the Federal government has made raiding dispensaries a very low priority,
LETTERS cont’d on page 4
3/17 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 3