MEASURE F: NEW TAX FOR MEDICAL POT

Measure F carries with it perhaps the smallest financial benefit to
the city, though its backers like something else about the proposal:
the potential to further legitimize medical pot.

Measure F would create a new business tax rate for Oakland's four
legally operating medical marijuana clubs, hitting them with a levy of
$18 for every $1,000 in gross sales.

That compares to $1.20 for every $1,000 in gross sales the clubs now
pay under the standard retail business tax.

The proposed tax could produce a windfall of $315,000 — $294,000 more
than under the current rate — in the 2010 calendar year, according to
an analysis from City Auditor Courtney Ruby's office.

The clubs see the ballot measure as a way to help the broader cause of
medical marijuana.

"Criminals don't pay taxes," said James Anthony, an attorney for
Harborside Health Center, one of the dispensaries. "Law-abiding
citizens do. We are nothing if not law-abiding citizens."

Medical marijuana is legal under California law, but prohibited by
federal law. But some see a turning point in how people across the
United States view the use of marijuana for medical purposes. For
example, Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan (at-large) noted that U.S.
Attorney General Eric Holder has said the Obama administration will
end the federal raids on medical pot clubs operating in California or
other states that have protected medical use.

"It is important that there be regulation and that there be a permit
process and that there be taxation," Kaplan said. "Both because the
city needs the revenue and to be sure that we weed out the bad actors."

Measure F came about after the clubs approached Councilmembers Kaplan
and Nancy Nadel (Downtown-West Oakland) about instituting a new tax,
Kaplan said.

The measure needs a simple majority to pass. Anthony said he expects
the clubs, not patients, will absorb the cost of the tax.