Business
Connecticut Bill Would Allow State Tax Deductions for Cannabis Businesses
Connecticut lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow cannabis businesses to take standard deductions on their state tax returns.
A bill pending before Connecticut state lawmakers would allow businesses in the state’s nascent cannabis industry to take tax deductions commonly enjoyed by firms in other industries. If passed by the legislature and signed into law, the legislation is projected to save businesses in the cannabis industry $4.7 million in the fiscal year starting July 1, growing to nearly $10 million by 2026.
In many states that have legalized marijuana for recreational or medical purposes, tax laws follow the lead of Section 280E of the federal tax code, which denies most standard business tax deductions for cannabis businesses. Under the rule, cannabis businesses are only allowed to deduct the cost of goods sold, while deductions for other business expenses such as rent, payroll and utilities are not allowed for most operators.
Under the bill from Democratic Representative Jason Rojas, the House majority leader, cannabis businesses would be permitted to deduct standard business expenses on their state tax returns, although Section 280E would still apply to the firms’ federal tax liability. While the measure will not result in a huge windfall for cannabis companies, the change is expected to make Connecticut businesses more competitive with recreational marijuana dispensaries in neighboring Massachusetts and Rhode Island, where prices are significantly lower.
“Everyone I’ve met says it’s an incredibly challenging business to get into, particularly because of the capital costs that are needed, but also the regulatory environment is very complicated as well because you are dealing with a controlled substance that is still illegal at the federal level,” Rojas told the Hartford Business Journal about the legislation.
“Anything that can be done to help reduce the cost of doing business, I think is to the benefit of the state, if we want to see this marketplace actually succeed,” he added.
Adam Wood, president of the Connecticut Cannabis Chamber of Commerce, said that Rojas’ bill would benefit both businesses and consumers. The tax deduction would also likely result in lower retail prices, bringing more consumers to the regulated market and increasing tax revenue over time.
“Every other business in the state is allowed to deduct overhead, equipment, labor,” Wood told CTInsider. “Our argument is that allowing for these state tax deductions will actually drive down the price because net operating costs would not be as high. When pricing is reasonable or under control, the regulated market grows, and sales taxes from these businesses will increase.”
The lack of standard business deductions makes it difficult for entrepreneurs to succeed and grow their businesses. The burden is particularly tough for social equity businesses, which often face added difficulty raising business capital to launch their enterprises. Tiana Hercules, a Hartford, Connecticut city council member who was recently awarded a provisional cannabis cultivation license through the state’s Social Equity Council, said last week that the federal tax rule has its roots in the War on Drugs.
“We’re being penalized as if we were not legitimate businesses,” Hercules said. “As a person in the social equity program, we are supposed to be developing business acumen and hopefully make a living and build some generational wealth as well. We should be able to reinvest in the business, staff and innovation as well. It makes a lot of sense if Connecticut wants a competitive and thriving cannabis industry. We’re ready to create a lot of excitement.”
So far, 19 states with legal cannabis, including nearby New York and Massachusetts, have decoupled their tax laws from the federal Section 280E to allow firms in the industry to take business deductions. The bill from Rojas, HB 5413, is currently under consideration by the Connecticut General Assembly’s Finance, Revenue & Bonding Committee.
“Connecticut is smart to look for ways to help its fledgling adult-use businesses to succeed, and providing state-level tax deductions is a time-tested method,” Brian Vicente, founding partner of cannabis law firm Vicente LLP wrote in an email to High Times. “For too long state-legal marijuana businesses have been beholden to draconian federal taxes, and allowing cannabis businesses to make traditional deductions of overhead, equipment, and labor will lead to more healthy businesses in Connecticut. Connecticut is poised to follow a trend of Northeastern states that have adopted state tax reforms for cannabusinesses, including New York and Massachusetts.”
The Legislative Finance Committee will soon begin voting on items to be included in the budget for the next fiscal year. In an interview with local media, the bill’s sponsor said he hopes his colleagues in the legislature will support the tax changes in HB 5413.
“It’s going to be part of the larger discussion on revenue and whether we can approach this differently because it is a revenue loss and there are a lot of priorities,” Rojas said. “But it’s a burgeoning marketplace and we’re seeing what the other states are doing. It’s consumer friendly. My hope is there will be room in the budget for it.”
New Mexico regulators fined a cannabis operator nearly $300,000 and revoked its license after the company allegedly created fake reports in the state’s traceability software.
The New Mexico Cannabis Control Division (CCD) accused marijuana manufacturer and retailer Golden Roots of 11 violations, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Golden Roots operates the The Cannabis Revolution Dispensary.
The majority of the violations are related to the Albuquerque company’s improper use of BioTrack, which has been New Mexico’s track-and-trace vendor since 2015.
The CCD alleges Golden Roots reported marijuana production only two months after it had received its vertically integrated license, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Because cannabis takes longer than two months to be cultivated, the CCD was suspicious of the report.
After inspecting the company’s premises, the CCD alleged Golden Roots reported cultivation, transportation and sales in BioTrack but wasn’t able to provide officers who inspected the site evidence that the operator was cultivating cannabis.
In April, the CCD revoked Golden Roots’ license and issued a $10,000 fine, according to the news outlet.
The company requested a hearing, which the regulator scheduled for Sept. 1.
At the hearing, the CCD testified that the company’s dried-cannabis weights in BioTrack were suspicious because they didn’t seem to accurately reflect how much weight marijuana loses as it dries.
Company employees also poorly accounted for why they were making adjustments in the system of up to 24 pounds of cannabis, making comments such as “bad” or “mistake” in the software, Albuquerque Business First reported.
Golden Roots was fined $298,972.05 – the amount regulators allege the company made selling products that weren’t properly accounted for in BioTrack.
The CCD has been cracking down on cannabis operators accused of selling products procured from out-of-state or not grown legally:
- Regulators alleged in August that Albuquerque dispensary Sawmill Sweet Leaf sold out-of-state products and didn’t have a license for extraction.
- Paradise Exotics Distro lost its license in July after regulators alleged the company sold products made in California.
Golden Roots was the first alleged rulebreaker in New Mexico to be asked to pay a large fine.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/new-mexico-cannabis-operator-fined-loses-license-for-alleged-biotrack-fraud/
Four marijuana companies, including a multistate operator, have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in which they allege the federal MJ prohibition under the Controlled Substances Act is no longer constitutional.
According to the complaint, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, retailer Canna Provisions, Treevit delivery service CEO Gyasi Sellers, cultivator Wiseacre Farm and MSO Verano Holdings Corp. are all harmed by “the federal government’s unconstitutional ban on cultivating, manufacturing, distributing, or possessing intrastate marijuana.”
Verano is headquartered in Chicago but has operations in Massachusetts; the other three operators are based in Massachusetts.
The lawsuit seeks a ruling that the “Controlled Substances Act is unconstitutional as applied to the intrastate cultivation, manufacture, possession, and distribution of marijuana pursuant to state law.”
The companies want the case to go before the U.S. Supreme Court.
They hired prominent law firm Boies Schiller Flexner to represent them.
The New York-based firm’s principal is David Boies, whose former clients include Microsoft, former presidential candidate Al Gore and Elizabeth Holmes’ disgraced startup Theranos.
Similar challenges to the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) have failed.
One such challenge led to a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2005.
In Gonzalez vs. Raich, the highest court in the United States ruled in a 6-3 decision that the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution gave Congress the power to outlaw marijuana federally, even though state laws allow the cultivation and sale of cannabis.
In the 18 years since that ruling, 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized adult-use marijuana and the federal government has allowed a multibillion-dollar cannabis industry to thrive.
Since both Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice, currently headed by Garland, have declined to intervene in state-licensed marijuana markets, the key facts that led to the Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling “no longer apply,” Boies said in a statement Thursday.
“The Supreme Court has since made clear that the federal government lacks the authority to regulate purely intrastate commerce,” Boies said.
“Moreover, the facts on which those precedents are based are no longer true.”
Verano President Darren Weiss said in a statement the company is “prepared to bring this case all the way to the Supreme Court in order to align federal law with how Congress has acted for years.”
While the Biden administration’s push to reschedule marijuana would help solve marijuana operators’ federal tax woes, neither rescheduling nor modest Congressional reforms such as the SAFER Banking Act “solve the fundamental issue,” Weiss added.
“The application of the CSA to lawful state-run cannabis business is an unconstitutional overreach on state sovereignty that has led to decades of harm, failed businesses, lost jobs, and unsafe working conditions.”
Alabama regulators are targeting Dec. 1 to award the first batch of medical cannabis business licenses after the agency’s first two attempts were scrapped because of scoring errors and litigation.
The first licenses will be awarded to individual cultivators, delivery providers, processors, dispensaries and state testing labs, according to the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC).
Then, on Dec. 12, the AMCC will award licenses for vertically integrated operations, a designation set primarily for multistate operators.
Licenses are expected to be handed out 28 days after they have been awarded, so MMJ production could begin in early January, according to the Alabama Daily News.
That means MMJ products could be available for patients around early March, an AMCC spokesperson told the media outlet.
Regulators initially awarded 21 business licenses in June, only to void them after applicants alleged inconsistencies with how the applications were scored.
Then, in August, the state awarded 24 different licenses – 19 went to June recipients – only to reverse themselves again and scratch those licenses after spurned applicants filed lawsuits.
A state judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Chicago-based MSO Verano Holdings Corp., but another lawsuit is pending.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/alabama-plans-to-award-medical-cannabis-licenses-dec-1/
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