By Robert Medley
Managing Editor
Legalized medical marijuana sales across Canadian County, and the taxes paid by dispensary owners, continued on a path of ground-breaking highs this summer.
More profits are coming in. And more taxes are being paid out to state and local governments, the Oklahoma Tax Commission reports.
Canadian County dispensaries in July paid $241,276.47 in taxes, including $102,817 in state excise tax, and $138,459 in additional state and local taxes. Of the amount of tax paid, dispensaries paid $75,027.25 in additional state tax and $63,432.13 to cities and counties.
Dispensaries pay a 7% state excise tax on all sales of products plus additional state and local tax to cities and counties. The total tax on marijuana sales is 15.5% in Yukon, a dispensary owner said.
Also, at the end of the calendar year, dispensary owners pay their federal and state income taxes based on gross sales, but they cannot deduct operating expenses, said Courtney Young, owner of The Green Lily CBD Dispensary, 355 E Main Street in Yukon.
“You just have to operate a very tight ship and have close control over your profit margin. Because so much goes to taxes, if you don’t have control you can be eaten alive,” Young said.
There are three dispensaries operating in Yukon city limits that pay state and local tax.
Young opened The Green Lily in January, 2019.
“Every month sales have gone up, and now I would say we are kind of hitting our plateaus. It has been a roller coaster through the whole coronavirus pandemic,” Young said.
Yukon led the way with medical marijuana sales of all cities in the county in July, including those dispensaries in Oklahoma City limits that are within the county.
Yukon dispensaries paid a total $72,957 tax in July, including $20,232.75 that went to additional state tax and $19,756 to city sales tax. The dispensaries paid $32,968 in marijuana excise tax for the month of July, according to the tax commission.
El Reno’s dispensaries paid $62,579 in tax in July.
West Oklahoma City dispensaries in Canadian County paid $53,692 in total taxes for July.
Mustang followed with $39,024 total taxes paid in July. Piedmont’s one dispensary paid $13,022 in total taxes for the month, the tax commission reports.
In June, Canadian County dispensaries paid $248,227.33 in total taxes. Yukon dispensaries paid $68,960.87 in taxes in June.
In May, Canadian County dispensaries paid $231,497 in tax at a time when many businesses, restaurants and bars were shut down or had reduced capacity or sales due to COVID-19. Yukon dispensaries paid $67,406.76 in May taxes.
Young said more people have embraced the medical marijuana industry recently.
Oklahoma voters legalized medical marijuana in 2018.
“We have a lot more people asking questions who are more interested in medical marijuana, that is the interest I see. People want to know how to get a card and stay legal,” Young said.
