SJ Voters to Decide on Taxing Legal Marijuana
Voters in San Jose will have a lot on their plate come general election time, after the city council voted to put three measures on the November ballot, including a steep tax on "legal" marijuana.
By a vote of seven-to-four, the San Jose City Council placed a measure on the November ballot that would tax legal marijuana up to 10 percent. That would include both medical and recreational marijuana if it is legalized.
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It's not clear how much revenue the pot tax would generate for the cash-strapped city, but Councilmember Pierluigi Oliverio says he would like to see it go to the General Fund.
"It could be spent on whatever the council wishes, whether that be public safety, roads, libraries etc.," said Oliverio.
Still, many cannabis club operators are not happy about the size of the tax.
"Ten percent is ridiculous," said Dave Hodges, founder of the San Jose Cannabis Buyers Collective.
"If it were to be put in place it would likely drive patients out of town, or back to the streets."
Meanwhile, the city council put two other measures on the November ballot: binding arbitration reform, which would limit the power of outside arbitrators in negotiations with police and fire unions, and pension reform, which would allow the council to lower retirement benefits for new city workers.
