SF Gate
The Desert Hot Springs City Council voted last week to slash its retail pot taxes in half, following the lead of neighboring Palm Springs, Palm Desert and Cathedral City. The tax cuts come as the entire legal industry in California faces widespread business failures.
The desert region’s pot shops are struggling particularly hard because an “unsustainable” amount of pot stores opened in the area, according to Daniel D’Ancona, the founder of Grow Rite, a company that helps distressed marijuana companies. He said cannabis brands were eager to open in the Coachella Valley area as a status symbol because it’s a popular tourist destination near Los Angeles.
“It’s obvious now looking back at it, but when people had tunnel vision trying to get their licenses, they didn’t make clear assessments of what the competition would do in those tight quarters,” D’Ancona said.
The biggest drop in stores has been in Palm Springs, where active licensed stores dropped from 31 in April of 2023 to 20 this month, according to state licensing data reviewed by SFGATE.
Amy O’Gorman Jenkins, the executive director of the California Cannabis Operators Association, praised the tax cuts in a news release, saying that the “legal cannabis industry is in crisis and immediate tax relief is essential.”
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https://www.sfgate.com/cannabis/article/california-cannabs-tax-rates-fall-20281817.php
