TITLE
Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by amending Section 3.80.261 to reduce the adult-use and medical cannabis cultivation and retail taxes for equity businesses, read and adopted as read. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
On April 18, 2023, the City Council passed a motion to request the City Attorney to prepare an ordinance amending the LBMC to reduce the adult-use and medical cannabis cultivation and retail taxes for equity businesses by half the rate set in Section 3.80.261 of the LBMC. The cannabis business license tax rate for adult-use retail is currently set at eight percent of gross receipts with medical retail following at six percent of gross receipts, whereas the cannabis business license tax rate for medical and adult-use cultivation is currently set at $13.70 per square foot. This ordinance amendment would reduce the tax rates for equity businesses to four percent of gross receipts for adult-use retail, three percent of gross receipts for medical retail, and $6.85 per square foot for medical and adult-use cultivation. The minimum $1,000 yearly tax payment as required in Section 3.80.261 (C)(7) of the LBMC would continue to apply to equity businesses. It is important to note that each year, on October 1st, the cultivation tax rate is
adjusted equivalent to the most recent change in the annual average of the Consumer Price Index ("CPI") for all urban consumers in the Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange
County areas as published by the United States Government Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, the cultivation tax may not exceed the maximum rate of $15.00 per square foot. The maximum rate for adult-use retail may not exceed twelve percent of gross receipts with medical retail following at a maximum rate of eight percent of gross receipts.
Pursuant to your request on April 18, 2023, this office has prepared and submits the above described Ordinance for your consideration.
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AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CI...
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