Westword
Audio By Carbonatix
Dear Stoner: I was in California and visited some dispensaries. Over there, the taxes were baked into the price, versus Colorado, where we find out at the end. Why the difference?
Stone T
Dear Stone T: This annoyance afflicts dispensary price tags outside of Colorado, too, including in some parts of California. States with legal weed do not require dispensaries to include sales tax in the advertised price because it’s never been required for other retail purchasers. But since department stores don’t have tax rates north of 25 percent, we’re not doing a flabbergasted double take when the true cost of a sweatshirt appears at the register.
L’Eagle, a Denver dispensary, displays both the retail price and the final price after sales tax is included.
Kate McKee Simmons
Not all Colorado dispensaries surprise you at the checkout with a whopping tax add-on, but the majority still do – and I’ve never understood why. It’s not their fault that the state shakes us upside down for quarters as we buy pot, so why not be more up front? First-time dispensary shoppers are routinely shocked to see their Denver cannabis purchases end up being 26.41 percent higher than anticipated, a sizable difference when making a $50 or $100 purchase.
Send questions to marijuana@westword.com.
