Why the price on the shelf is not the price you pay

Three taxes, stacked

A California cannabis receipt has more lines on it than most people expect, because three separate taxes land on the same purchase:

• State cannabis excise tax, 15% of gross receipts. This is the cannabis-specific one.
• State and district sales tax. The statewide base rate is 7.25%, and local district taxes are added to it, so the actual sales-tax figure varies by where the store is.
• Local cannabis business tax. Set by the city or county, and it ranges from nothing at all to around 10%.

Stack them and a total in the high twenties to high thirties as a percentage of the shelf price is normal in California. It is not a markup any single store chose.

The excise rate is 15%, and it nearly was not

The excise rate has moved recently, which is why older guides disagree with each other. It was scheduled to rise, and in September 2025 the state suspended that increase and set the rate at 15% of gross receipts for sales from 1 October 2025. That rate is legislated to hold until mid-2028, with a review built in after that.

If you are comparing an old receipt to a new one and the numbers do not line up, that change is usually why.

Why two Cannavine stores can total differently

The excise rate is the same everywhere in California. The other two are not. District sales tax varies between counties, and the local cannabis business tax is set city by city — the rate in San Francisco is a decision San Francisco made, and Ukiah, Santa Rosa and Belmont each made their own.

So the same cart can total slightly differently at two of our stores. The shelf price is the shelf price; the difference is municipal.

Reading it on the receipt

The excise tax is included in the price you are quoted at the register rather than added as a visible surprise, and the receipt breaks the components out. If a line is not clear, ask — the person at the counter can walk through it, and a store that cannot explain its own tax lines is telling you something.

Does a medical card change it?

It can. Patients with a valid Medical Marijuana Identification Card issued through the county programme are exempt from sales and use tax on cannabis purchases. The excise tax still applies. Whether that exemption is worth the cost and effort of the card depends on how much you buy; our guide to medical cards in California covers what getting one involves.