Title: Taxes/Excise Tax on Recreational Marijuana

Summary: Imposing an excise tax on recreational marijuana; requiring the Department of Business and Professional Regulation to annually calculate and publish an adjusted excise tax rate; authorizing the Division of Alcoholic Beverages, Marijuana, and Tobacco to revoke a marijuana cultivation facility's license under certain circumstances; authorizing counties and municipalities to establish additional excise taxes on the sale and purchase of marijuana, etc.

Full Text:
An act relating to taxes; creating s. 566.012, F.S.; imposing an excise tax on recreational marijuana; requiring the Department of Business and Professional Regulation to annually calculate and publish an adjusted excise tax rate; requiring certain entities to file a monthly return that includes tax payments and to keep specified records; authorizing the Division of Alcoholic Beverages, Marijuana, and Tobacco to revoke a marijuana cultivation facility s license under certain circumstances; creating s. 566.0125, F.S.; authorizing counties and municipalities to establish additional excise taxes on the sale and purchase of marijuana; limiting the excise tax rate; providing a contingent effective date. Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: Section 1. Section 566.012, Florida Statutes, is created to read: 566.012   Excise tax on marijuana.  (1)   An excise tax is imposed on the sale or transfer of marijuana from a marijuana cultivation facility to a retail marijuana store or marijuana product manufacturing facility. Each marijuana cultivation facility shall pay an excise tax at the rate of $50 per ounce, or proportionate part thereof, on marijuana that is sold or transferred from a marijuana cultivation facility pursuant to part II. (2)   The excise tax rate under subsection (1) shall be adjusted annually for inflation. (a)   Beginning in 2022, on or about February of each year, the department shall calculate the adjusted excise tax rate by multiplying the rate in effect on the calculation date by an inflation index computed as provided in paragraph (b). The adjusted rate must be rounded to the nearest penny and become effective on the first day of July immediately after the calculation. The division shall publish the annually adjusted excise tax rate and shall provide all necessary forms and reports. (b)   The inflation index is the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, U.S. City Average, or successor reports, as reported by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, for the calendar year ending December immediately before the calculation date, divided by the Consumer Price Index for the previous calendar year. The inflation index may not be less than 1. (3)(a)   A marijuana cultivation facility subject to the licensing requirement of s. 566.036 shall file, on or before the last day of each month, a return on a form prescribed and furnished by the division, together with payment of the tax due under this section. The return must report all marijuana products held, purchased, manufactured, brought in, or caused to be brought in from outside the state or shipped or transported to a retail marijuana store or marijuana product manufacturing facility within the state during the previous calendar month. A marijuana cultivation facility shall keep a complete and accurate record at its principal place of business to substantiate all receipts and sales of marijuana products. (b)   The return must include further information as the division may prescribe. Tax previously paid on marijuana products that are returned to a marijuana establishment because the product has become unfit for use, sale, or consumption and for marijuana products that are returned to a marijuana cultivation facility that are subsequently destroyed by the marijuana cultivation facility may be taken as a credit on a subsequent return. The division may either witness the destruction of the product or may accept another form of proof that the product has been destroyed by the marijuana cultivation facility. (c)   A person who is not a marijuana cultivation facility licensed under s. 566.036 who imports, receives, or otherwise acquires marijuana products for use or consumption in the state from a person other than a licensed marijuana cultivation facility shall file, on or before the last day of the month after each month in which marijuana products were acquired, a return on a form prescribed by the division together with payment of the tax imposed by this section at the rate provided in subsection (1). The return must report the quantity of marijuana products imported, received, or otherwise acquired from a person other than a licensed marijuana cultivation facility during the previous calendar month and additional information that the division may require. (4)   If a marijuana cultivation facility fails to make tax payments as required by this section, the division may revoke the marijuana cultivation facility s license. Section 2. Section 566.0125, Florida Statutes, is created to read: 566.0125  County or municipality excise taxes.  A county or municipality may establish additional excise taxes for the sale or purchase of marijuana, but the tax rate may not exceed percent. Section 3. This act shall take effect on the same date that SB ____ or similar legislation takes effect, if such legislation is adopted in the same legislative session or an extension thereof and becomes a law.