Do you think a proposed new Texas tax could put a number of THC retailers out of business?
The Texas Department of State Health Services said last week it's considering raising the licensing fees for hemp-related businesses by 13,000-percent, and that's not a typo.
The idea is to beef up the oversight of an industry that some state health officials say has grown so quickly it's gotten out of control.
With some rules that may seem reasonable enough, the department is proposing a minimum age of 21 for purchasing hemp products along with mandatory age verification, but the proposals don't stop there.
The agency also is considering raising manufacturer licenses from $250 to $25,000 per facility per year.
Add to that retail registration fees from $150 to $20,000 -- pretty unreasonable?
There's more.
The agency also proposes that that previously-listed $150 to $20,000 fee be paid by every company not just yearly, but for each and every location a business operates.
That really is a 13,000% increase, and opponents say it'll put so many people out of business it could threaten the hemp retail business in the whole state, since most of them are small operations -- and it will invite large operations to move into Texas from out of state, where the biggest hemp-related retails are already used to high fees and taxes.
Unfair?
The director of policy and strategy at Texans for Safe and Drug-Free Youth said, "Cannabis advocates say this is a billion-dollar industry.
"It’s fair and appropriate for the people who profit from selling a billion dollars in intoxicating products to create fees that help cover the cost associated with the regulation and societal burden of the product,” Betsy Jones told the Texas Health Services Dept., according to the Texas Tribune.
But Heather Fazio, director of the Texas Cannabis Policy Center, told the agency, "Many small businesses simply cannot absorb this level of cost and will be forced to shut down rather than renew."
We report, you decide.