Proposal for $5,000 business-license fee for cannabis retailers going to public hearing

“This is a placeholder because we really don’t know yet what the contribution from the provincial government going to be in terms of revenue-sharing of the taxation for cannabis, so that’s something we have to access,” said Christian. “I don’t think we’re here for a cash grab, but we do have very real costs in terms of licensing cannabis retail. Additional policing, planning, our bylaw people, our business-licensing people. I don’t think the general taxpayer should shoulder those kinds of costs.”

The $5,000 business license cost would be on par with other municipalities, but much cheaper than Vancouver, which will be charging cannabis retailers $30,000 a year.

“We did some research and staff came with that figure. If we find it’s too high or too low, we can adjust it later on,” noted Christian. “But what we are really conscious of is that people are lining up at our doors to get one of these licenses because it’s a very lucrative industry, so I suspect that we will see this kind of equalize over time, and a year from now whether we have 20 cannabis stores in Kamloops or we have five, the marketplace will dictate that.”

by Chad Klassen

Proposal for $5,000 business-license fee for cannabis retailers going to public hearing

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