California's legal cannabis brought in $250 million $ in third-quarter taxes

California authorities report that the state collected more than a quarter of a billion dollars in cannabis tax revenue in the third quarter of 2024.

The state of almost 40 million people has collected $250.5 million (€240 million) in cannabis taxes so far in the third quarter of 2024, including $148.4 million in excise taxes and $102 million in sales taxes on licensed cannabis businesses.

In addition, as some outstanding returns have yet to be accounted for, the total sum for the third quarter should increase, according to the report.

However, the third-quarter total is less than the $269 million in cannabis taxes posted by the state this year, including $157.7 million in excise taxes and $111.3 million in sales taxes.

Second-quarter filings also included a program to compensate eligible sellers for 20% of excise tax paid on the sale of cannabis products over a 12-month period, conserving over $900,000. This program will end on December 31, 2025.

Despite an unstable industry facing competition from the unregulated market - and, until recently, of the market for legal hemp-based cannabinoid products at the federal level - the California has generated over $6.5 billion in cannabis tax revenues since the legalization of cannabis for adult use in January 2018.

This includes $3.4 billion in industry excise taxes, $2.6 billion in sales taxes and $501 million from a culture tax that lawmakers eliminated in 2022.