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Since the health benefits of medical marijuana are being made more and more obvious by advances in science, it’s becoming harder and harder for authorities to deny them. So, more and more states are legalizing the herb for medicinal use. However, even the best intentions can lead to mistakes, as state officials accidentally create a tax loophole for medical marijuana in Hawaii.
Tax breaks for enterprises
Even though medical marijuana has been legalized in Hawaii for 15 years, the legislature has only been written this year.
However, as it turns out, the state has accidentally created a tax loophole for medical marijuana dispensaries, a loophole that they are trying to abolish.
According to the state’s previous laws, eligible businesses located in enterprise zones can be exempted from general excise taxes for a period of seven years, so as to help a number of necessary industries grow, and to create jobs. They are exempt from some state income taxes.
Usually, the types of businesses that take advantage of the loophole are in the IT industry, agriculture, manufacturing, and other job-creating enterprises.
So, if a medical marijuana dispensary were to be opened in one of the areas, they would be totally eligible to apply for tax exemption, and the state would have to approve.
How they’re planning to make it right
So, of course, they are trying to come up with a way to prevent this from happening, and so far, the only foreseeable way for that would be to change the legislation.
The legislature we’re talking about didn’t even set price controls on the medical marijuana industry, so the state can’t even know how much money they’d lose if some company took advantage of the loophole.
Following an informational meeting where several parties were present, the only solution was to eventually rewrite the legislature, so that medical marijuana dispensaries are removed from the possible list of tax exemption beneficiaries.
What’s next?
One of the most pressing concerns regarding medical marijuana in the state is related to the fact that being an island state, it would be quite difficult to grant everyone who needs it access to dispensaries.
They state officials are taking the matter seriously, as since they legalized the product, patients who need it should gain easier access to it.
Now that the legislature was finished, all that’s left for people who want to open a dispensary would be to apply. They can apply starting with January, and expect to be given approval to open up shop by July. An important criteria, however, is that you possess $1 million in reserve in order to be qualified to run a medical marijuana dispensary.
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