Steven Greenhut on How California is Trying to Tax Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

Caveman Chuck Coler/Foter.com

California authorities are notoriously creative when it comes to wringing as much tax revenue as possible out of the state's businesses, yet are leaving real money on the table because of their failure to come up with a simple way for medical marijuana dispensaries to pay their tab. Voters legalized this business 19 years ago with the passage of Proposition 215. But an uncertain federal legal status has complicated the matter since then. The state only collects a small percentage of the sales-and-use taxes these businesses owe, writes Steven Greenhut, although a new program is attempting to address the imbalance.