California’s legal cannabis industry reached its highest watermark in terms of sales during the second quarter of 2021, reaching $1.359 billion dollars in taxable sales to consumers, California’s sales tax agency reported.
The latest figures paint a legal drug industry that continues to rise, with year-over-year sales gains of $266,518,368, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration said in its quarterly update of sales tax revenue.
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In the second quarter of 2021, California collected $333,198,419 in taxes from cannabis growers and sellers.
Of that sum, California raised $120,540,674 in sales taxes from cannabis sales and $40,383,864 from cultivation efforts.
The largest share, however, came from the state’s 15 percent excise tax, which raised $172,273,881 within the quarter.
The record tax revenue and sales beg a larger question:
