LAST YEAR, Oakland became the first U.S. city to create a specific tax on medicinal marijuana providers. Measure F raised the tax on dispensaries from $1.20 per $1,000 in business sales to $18 per $1,000. The increase on more than $17 million in gross receipts was expected to bring in an extra $294,000 per year to the city's cash-starved general fund.

Now Oakland city officials are asking voters for permission to nearly triple the tax on medical cannabis businesses to $50 per $1,000 in sales. Richmond and Berkeley are attempting to follow in Oakland's footsteps rushing to cash in on the booming medicinal marijuana business with pot ballot tax measures of their own in November.

insidebayarea.com