The city of San Diego has made more than $3.6 million in revenue from the Cannabis Business Tax (CBT) through the first three quarters of 2018, NBC 7 has learned.
The CBT was implemented in January after recreational marijuana use became legal.
The CBT currently taxes recreational marijuana sales at 5 percent and it will increase to 8 percent on July 1, 2019. Any time after next July the San Diego City Council can reduce it as low as 0 percent or raise it to a maximum of 15 percent.
Cultivators are also taxed under the CBT.
The city of Denver, Colorado, which has had a similar tax in place since 2014, made almost $48 million in revenue last year. Denver's population is about half of San Diego’s but has substantially more cannabis retail outlets.
Chula Vista, La Mesa, and Vista all passed a Marijuana tax in the midterm election.
Here are the quarterly revenue numbers for the CBT:
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1st quarter (Jan. – March) - $584,107.12
2nd quarter (April - June) - $2,185,685.67
3rd quarter (July – Sept.) - $874,656.14
Total: $3,644,448.93
Revenue from the CBT goes into the city’s general fund.