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Marijuana dealers get slammed by taxes - Feb. 25, 2013
Seems that the IRS has dusted off an old provision in order to milk more cash out of medical marijuana dealers.
Absolutely hilarious but sad. The government needs to just get over themselves already.
For Denver Relief -- one of the largest marijuana dispensaries in Colorado, with a full-time staff of 15 -- the burden isn't killing the business. But for others, it's been lethal.
Jim Marty, an accountant in Colorado specializing in medicinal marijuana tax law, said he has one client that didn't turn a profit in 2009, 2010 or 2011. In 2012, though, she was handed a $300,000 tax bill from the IRS for those three proceeding years.
Entrepreneurs whose businesses are legal under state laws are getting hammered by outdated federal tax rules.
"If you have a license from the state hanging on your wall, that doesn't fit the definition of trafficking," Marty said. "Yet the IRS is aggressively auditing this industry."
He said he often sees clients facing effective tax bills of 65% to 75%. That compares to 15% to 30% for businesses in general.
The Internal Revenue Service did not respond to a request for comment.
At the Citadel Church of La Puente in La Puente, Calif., Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputies arrested two individuals and seized between $20,000 and $30,000 in marijuana on Nov. 15. In a press release, the LACSD said it conducted a three-week surveillance operation and found the church was actually a "dispensary selling marijuana, concentrated cannabis such as marijuana wax, various marijuana packaging and edibles such as the likes of chocolate bars." Further north in San Jose, Councilwoman Devora Davis is going after two marijuana-friendly churches -- the Coachella Valley Church and the Oklevueha Native American Church -- for being "illegal dispensaries." "It's a priority for me, so I will be doing everything I can to shut down illegal pot clubs, regardless of whether they call themselves churches or not," Davis told the San Jose Mercury News.
Staff at the Coachella Valley Church previously said that their use and sales of marijuana is legal due to religious freedom laws. Members of the church have to be 18 and, if hey have a state-approved medical marijuana card, they can buy non-taxed marijuana and participate in a religious service held once a week. The marijuana is not taxed because the church is classified as a tax-exempt organization. Co-director Donny Lords said the marijuana sales are more like a "donation" and members are encouraged to bring their own supply to the services. "We'll distribute it if somebody forgets to bring it," he said.
A man smokes a joint during a 420 event in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park on April 20. In California, several churches that sell marijuana have come under scrutiny by law enforcement officials.
Davis disagrees with the Coachella Valley Church's reading of the tax laws. "They're basically violating law if they don't pay taxes on cannabis sales, even if they're not a dispensary," she said. The three marijuana-selling churches are just the latest to come under scrutiny by California law enforcement. In Roseville, Calif., on Oct. 31, officials sent a cease and desist letter to the Temple for Healing and Meditation just says after the church opened its doors on Oct. 25. The THM doesn't hide the fact that it sells marijuana and it advertises its products on WeedMaps.
But THM's attorney, Christian Peirano, told Fox 40-TV that the selling should be condoned because profit isn't a motive. "The main focus behind 'selling drugs' is whether or not you're exceedingly doing it for a commercial purpose, in other words, just to make a profit," Peirano said. "The marijuana in this particular situation is to sustain the church itself." In Coachella last month, officials won an injunction against the Mien Tao Church of Health, Body and Mind to stop distributing marijuana, reported the Desert Sun. Also in October, police in Yuba County, Calif. arrested 46-year-old Heidi Lepp, the leader of a Rastafarian church, on charges of conspiracy and marijuana cultivation, reported KCRA-TV. Recreational marijuana will be officially legalized in California on Jan. 1, 2018. It's unclear how the new laws regulating marijuana will affect churches that hope to engage in the practice of marijuana distribution.
Calif. officials crack down on churches selling marijuana
THE GOVT IS YOU ! The meathead you went to HS with who is a general. The other asshole that went FBI. Until you get that.......yer fukked.Marijuana dealers get slammed by taxes - Feb. 25, 2013
Seems that the IRS has dusted off an old provision in order to milk more cash out of medical marijuana dealers.
Absolutely hilarious but sad. The government needs to just get over themselves already.
There are people angry at states legalizing pot so they try end around ways to make it illegal .
And Big pharma doesn’t like weed. So they sick their bought and paid pols on them .
It may just be that the RNC doesn't want its name attached to "we forced your state to be a market for CA, CO, OR etc.'s BigTobacco's new trade." That's what "legal' states are lobbying DC for, essentially, like gay marriage, the "right" to force all the other states to be consumers of a product they don't want....that "legal" states intend to overproduce for sale outside their borders. You know, like Mexico does with drugs we don't want smuggled here.There are people angry at states legalizing pot so they try end around ways to make it illegal .
And Big pharma doesn’t like weed. So they sick their bought and paid pols on them .
Granny says, "Dat's right - bein' a member of a Rastafarian church ain't gonna cut it no mo'...
Calif. officials crack down on churches selling marijuana
Nov. 19, 2017 -- California authorities this month are moving to close several churches that have been selling marijuana.
At the Citadel Church of La Puente in La Puente, Calif., Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputies arrested two individuals and seized between $20,000 and $30,000 in marijuana on Nov. 15. In a press release, the LACSD said it conducted a three-week surveillance operation and found the church was actually a "dispensary selling marijuana, concentrated cannabis such as marijuana wax, various marijuana packaging and edibles such as the likes of chocolate bars." Further north in San Jose, Councilwoman Devora Davis is going after two marijuana-friendly churches -- the Coachella Valley Church and the Oklevueha Native American Church -- for being "illegal dispensaries." "It's a priority for me, so I will be doing everything I can to shut down illegal pot clubs, regardless of whether they call themselves churches or not," Davis told the San Jose Mercury News.
Staff at the Coachella Valley Church previously said that their use and sales of marijuana is legal due to religious freedom laws. Members of the church have to be 18 and, if hey have a state-approved medical marijuana card, they can buy non-taxed marijuana and participate in a religious service held once a week. The marijuana is not taxed because the church is classified as a tax-exempt organization. Co-director Donny Lords said the marijuana sales are more like a "donation" and members are encouraged to bring their own supply to the services. "We'll distribute it if somebody forgets to bring it," he said.
A man smokes a joint during a 420 event in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park on April 20. In California, several churches that sell marijuana have come under scrutiny by law enforcement officials.
Davis disagrees with the Coachella Valley Church's reading of the tax laws. "They're basically violating law if they don't pay taxes on cannabis sales, even if they're not a dispensary," she said. The three marijuana-selling churches are just the latest to come under scrutiny by California law enforcement. In Roseville, Calif., on Oct. 31, officials sent a cease and desist letter to the Temple for Healing and Meditation just says after the church opened its doors on Oct. 25. The THM doesn't hide the fact that it sells marijuana and it advertises its products on WeedMaps.
But THM's attorney, Christian Peirano, told Fox 40-TV that the selling should be condoned because profit isn't a motive. "The main focus behind 'selling drugs' is whether or not you're exceedingly doing it for a commercial purpose, in other words, just to make a profit," Peirano said. "The marijuana in this particular situation is to sustain the church itself." In Coachella last month, officials won an injunction against the Mien Tao Church of Health, Body and Mind to stop distributing marijuana, reported the Desert Sun. Also in October, police in Yuba County, Calif. arrested 46-year-old Heidi Lepp, the leader of a Rastafarian church, on charges of conspiracy and marijuana cultivation, reported KCRA-TV. Recreational marijuana will be officially legalized in California on Jan. 1, 2018. It's unclear how the new laws regulating marijuana will affect churches that hope to engage in the practice of marijuana distribution.
Calif. officials crack down on churches selling marijuana
