No medical marijuana dispensaries have opened in Hawaii yet, but questions regarding marijuana taxes have swirled around recently. And these tax issues have to be resolved before the dispensaries open. The law, as written, declared that the General Excise Tax (GET) exemption for medicine would not be applicable to medical marijuana.
The rate was expected to be similar to the current GET tax, according to West Hawaii Today. One approved medical marijuana bill includes a 25-percent special GET tax. The state is likely to use that model.
The business, not the patient, would have to pay the tax, so some are asking the state to take that into consideration when determining the special tax rate. If a business wishes to pass some of the tax liability onto the consumer, that will just make medicine unattainable for patients. For example, a $300 purchase at a dispensary that asks the patient to pick up the tax would tack on $75 to the bill for a 25-percent GET tax. The dispensary would have to pay 25-percent of the entire bill, thus making the dispensary lose almost $20 per transaction in the end.
A smaller, less harsh tax rate is hoped for. Some believe that a 10 to 15-percent tax rate is appropriate as not too much of the tax is actually passed onto the consumer – it would be a comparable rate to what patients are paying in other states.
Lawmakers expect to have a tax rate set soon, while taking the patient and business into consideration. If the tax is set too high, patients won’t buy and dispensaries won’t be make the necessary money to stay open.