Tax Windfall In-The-Pipeline From Cannabis Legalization

You won't hear this "good news" about increasing tax revenues out of the office of the Chief Executive Officer/City Manager Chris Brady here in conservative Mesa, but Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen has 'sniffed-out' a potential windfall of potentially millions of dollars accruing to the county's coffers from the growing Medical Marijuana industry here.
What's the buzz?
It's another example of how legalization helps the community in ways that black-market sales never did. 

[ Image from Twitter ]

It's one way to get attention for sure: on Thursday, Petersen held a press conference to announce that cannabis operations were expected to report their business personal property or pay tax on it.
Assessor Petersen Adds Medical Marijuana Businesses
to 2017 Personal Property Roll
Link to press release > https://mcassessor.maricopa.gov/news/news.php 
PHOENIX — Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen will mail out notices of value and applicable penalties to business personal property owners, including for the first time medical marijuana businesses, on August 25, 2017.
"Keeping the property tax roll as fair and accurate as possible is my number one priority," said Petersen, "Property taxes support critical services for Maricopa County residents, including education, where 54% of dollars go to school districts and another 11% go to community colleges."

Medical marijuana was legalized in Arizona after the narrow passage of Proposition 203 in 2010. Proposition 203 did not exempt medical marijuana businesses from property taxes and they are not included in a long list of exemptions kept in statute. . .
The public learned from this press release that there are now 109  MMM businesses located here in Maricopa County
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Blogger Note: according to this report in Phoenix New Times, that  includes 55 dispensaries, 33 cultivation facilities, nine dual-use facilities (dispensaries with internal cultivation facilities), and 12 certification businesses who all had to purchase taxable equipment and personal property to operate their businesses.
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Of 109 dispensary, cultivation, duel [spelling correction: dual] locations and certification businesses located in Maricopa County, only 11 reported their business personal property. Like any other business, these medical marijuana facilities that failed to report their business personal property will be assessed a 10 percent penalty.
"If Walgreens, CVS, hospital pharmacies, and other medical facilities can report their business personal property timely and accurately, why can't medical marijuana businesses do the same?" said Petersen. "If medical marijuana business owners want to be treated the same as a legitimate business, then they must also act like a legitimate business, which includes paying their property taxes on their business personal property", Petersen added.

The report by Ray Stern on Friday 25 Aug 2017
Medical-Marijuana Tax Could Mean Millions for Maricopa County Schools; Here's How
also gave this additional information:
> Only cultivation centers and dual-use businesses are likely to have enough business personal property to incur a tax, according to information provided by the assessor's office. Cultivation operations typically have $675,000 in property, while a dual-use facility might have nearly $1 million in property.
> Last year alone, the businesses collected about $30 million in sales tax after patients legally bought 29 tons of cannabis products.
> Petersen, an adoption lawyer from Mesa, began his second term in office this year. His job as assessor is not to collect taxes, but to have his office staff figure out the valuation — the worth — of residential and commercial properties. After that, the County Treasurer's Office sends out the property tax bills.
> Businesses, like homeowners, pay property tax on their land and the buildings on it. Businesses also have to pay tax on their personal property. That means nearly everything that's not part of a building structure. In the case of marijuana retail and cultivation operations, it includes things like computers, grow lights, watering systems, sinks, refrigerators, and ovens for making edibles.