Marijuana Medicine Taxes Overtaking Liquor, In Oklahoma

On top of taxes paid on income, Oklahomans are also paying hundreds of millions to governments in order to buy the most popular medicine in the state... Cannabis.

  When the Oklahoma Tax Commission published the December tax receipts from Cannabis Medicine sales, the total is expected to put 2020 totals at about $140 million. That's 2.5 times the collections from cannabis medicine sales in 2019.
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  Medical Marijuana businesses pay annual state licenses and fees from nearly 10,000 farmers, processors and retail shops. the fees to the OMMA, OBNDD, and other agencies average somewhere around $3,500 depending on the categories. So to compare with liquor collections, it's fair to add another $35 million in Cannabis related state fees to our totals for comparison with liquor, which is rarely a physician-recommended medicine.

So the real comparison number for state & local taxes on Cannabis products should be about $175 million for 2020.

The most recent data available from the OTC on liquor  related taxes & licenses is for fiscal year 2018-19. That total is about $139 million . It includes

Untold thousands of Oklahomans are exempting themselves from marijuana taxes, by growing their own reliable & safe marijuana.

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​ Beverage Taxes and Licenses $ 139,141,653.46

• Alcoholic Beverage Tax $ 57,878,383.19

• Distilled spirits: $ 1.47 per liter.
• Wine: $ 0.19 per liter.
• Sparkling wines: $ 0.55 per liter.
• Strong beer: $12.50 per barrel.

• Beverage Tax $ 6,688,782.54

• Beer 3.2% or less: $11.25 per 31-gallon barrel through September 30, 2018. Beginning October 1, 2018, the Beverage tax is repealed and beer will be taxed under the Alcoholic Beverage Tax rate of $12.50 per barrel.

• Beverage License (3.2% Beer) $ 257,399.67

• Retailer Manufacturer (Brew Pub): $650
• Manufacturer: $500 Wholesale: $250
• Retail (3 year permit): On-premise draught: $500
• On-premise cans and bottles only: $350
• Off-premise cans and bottles only: $230

• Mixed Beverage Gross Receipts Tax $ 74,317,088.06

• A tax at the rate of 13.5% is levied on the total gross receipts from the sale, preparation or service of mixed beverages; ice or nonalcoholic beverages to be mixed with alcoholic beverages; admission charges to mixed beverage establishments; and on the total retail value of complimentary or discounted mixed beverages.

The liquor tax report does not include local taxes collected by the OTC and remitted to municipalities and other entities. That addition would be somewhere around $45 million.  So Liquor consumers and providers actually pay about $185 million in assorted taxes & fees
We should point out that we don't have the 2020 tax collection numbers for liquor, yet. So we're comparing numbers that are 18 months apart. But the economic conditions in Oklahoma are not significantly different, except that Covid pandemic impacts are possible factors.