Monday Sept. 28, 2015
Yesterday in Eureka, Fiona Ma, District 2 representative on the California Board of Equalization called on Humboldt County citizens to help put a cannabis initiative on next year’s ballot.
Representative Ma, who previously served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (2002–2006) and in the California State Assem
bly (2006–2012), was in town for a small business/nonprofit seminar that while not overt, was geared toward cannabis growers.
At the onset of the meeting, “Ziggy” from Wildcat Farms was presented with a personally delivered seller’s permit from Ma that was framed and featured a 5-6” green cannabis leaf. Ma credited Ziggy with being a trailblazer (the permit may be a first for cannabis farmers) and serving as an example for other farmers to move towards legitimization.
As Ma explained in an email to The Witness, “Any business selling a tangible personal property in California is supposed to get a seller’s permit and collect and remit sales taxes to the SBOE. I cannot say if Ziggy is the first farmer to apply for and get a seller’s permit (since we don’t have a specific code for this industry), but I appreciate that he is willing to come out of the shadows and into the mainstream to lead the way for other farmers in this industry.”
Ma first met Ziggy during her first cannabis tour in Humboldt last April where, “Ziggy was very honest with me,” she said.
As stated in one of the seminar handouts, Ma and the state want access to “the underground economy which deprives California of approximately $8.5 billion in tax revenue.” Her solution is for voters to by pass the state legislature and the governor by putting an initiative for legalization on next year’s ballot.
The big hitch in the taxman or in this case, woman’s plan are those pesky feds. As many know, even with voters passing Prop. 215, California’s Attorney General, Kamala Harris continued to prosecute citizens based on federal laws.
However, now that Harris is running for State Senator next year, her stance has dramatically changed to one of support for cannabis and if Colorado and Washington are indicators (not to mention mandates by Congress and Obama), once California legalizes cannabis, the feds should back off.
In a voicemail to The Witness, Ma recommended using caution when using real names and photos in cannabis related articles because “the federal government gets its leads from articles about cannabis,” at least until our Governor signs the state bill currently sitting on his desk.
The Humboldt Witness 