Palm Springs City Council to vote on medical marijuana tax

The Palm Springs City Council is expected to vote Wednesday night on whether to let voters decide if the city should impose a marijuana tax on the city’s legal medical marijuana dispensaries.

Organic Solutions of the Desert, C.A.P.S. and Desert Organic Solutions would be the dispensaries effected by what amounts to a business tax.

The city of Palm Springs is proposing putting a cap on the tax that could reach no higher than 15 percent of a dispensary’s gross sales.

If the City Council decides to place a measure on the November ballot, and if voters pass it by a simple majority, the revenue raised through the tax would go to the city’s general fund. Also, it would not necessarily mean patients at dispensaries would see an increase in the price of their medication.

“That’s going to be their business decision as to how they wish to implement it,” said city attorney Doug Holland. “We have indicated this is not intended to be a sales tax, and not a tax that is automatically put on the shoulders of the patients.”

If the council decides to place the measure on the November ballot, it would have to determine the size of the tax charge.

Palm Springs officials said the revenue raised from the tax will go toward policing illegal dispensaries in the city that are currently in operation or may pop up in the future.