Walking into the Sacramento board of equalization(BOE) tax agency on quarterly sales tax day, one might think they were selling medical marijuana themselves. If we went into the back office and saw the overflowing safe and wads of banknotes on the desks, our suspicions could increase, although we would still not be correct.
One of the stranger twists in the tale of medical marijuana in the States, is people wanting to pay their sales tax are unable to do so by direct deposit, EFT, or any other traditional banking method. This is because cannabis is still illegal in any form from a federal viewpoint, and the nation’s banks are wary of being mixed up in a Federal Reserve bust.
This leaves licensed medical marijuana dispensaries – along with growers, distributors and other marijuana-related businesses only one choice. This is to do everything by cash. However, this is not ideal for the Sacramento tax collection agency that was designed to receive checks and electronic payments.
It still has teller window slots that cannot cope with more than a few thousand dollars, let alone the $400,000 that The Guardian reports arrived in the San Francisco branch “in a big black bag”. Sacramento’s record stands at $150,000 according to NBC News and the security systems are unable to cope with these volumes. This is how their office ends up with piles of banknotes stacked on desks in public view, and yes, the cash often smells of herb.
This situation is set to get a whole lot worse if the California ballot to legalise recreational marijuana passes muster, and Gov. Jerry Brown allows it. This could result in a mini avalanche of banknotes in the Sacramento BOE. We sure hope they are working on a redesign of teller booths.
Perhaps the situation needs a re-think. The possibility of a state marijuana bank as Colorado has motivated seems attractive, although the problem of interfacing with commercial banks will remain. We think the option of a row of automated marijuana ATM’s has merit, although it still seems unfair to expect the medical marijuana industry to walk about with big black bags of money.
The option of a sales tax payment moratorium exists only in the minds of potheads, going nowhere slowly.