What Tax-Included Cannabis Pricing Means in California

Updated October 2026By the Cannasseurs Club team7 min read

Tax-included pricing means the price on the shelf or menu already has the taxes built in, so the number you see is the number you pay. Every retail cannabis purchase in California carries a 15% state excise tax, most also carry sales tax, and in Los Angeles the city taxes the shop's gross receipts too. Once you know how those layers stack, comparing prices between shops gets much easier.

The taxes on a California cannabis purchase

When you buy cannabis from a licensed shop in California, up to three taxes shape the final number. Two are charged on your sale, and one is charged to the business itself. Here is what each one is and who collects it.

State cannabis excise tax: 15%

The state excise tax is 15% of gross receipts on the retail sale. Since 2023, the retailer collects it from you at the point of sale and sends it to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA). Retailers have to list the excise tax separately on your receipt, so you can always see exactly how much of your total it represents.

Sales tax, charged on top of the excise

Sales tax applies to the total including the excise tax. In other words, you pay sales tax on the excise as well as on the product. The statewide base sales tax rate is 7.25%, and local district taxes are added on top of that. The combined rate in Los Angeles is higher than the base rate and can change, so the cleanest way to see the current figure is the rate lookup on the CDTFA website.

City of Los Angeles business tax

The City of Los Angeles charges licensed cannabis businesses a business tax of 10% of gross receipts on adult-use sales and 5% on medical sales. This one is a tax on the business, not a separate tax on you. Some shops build it into their prices; others show it as its own line on the receipt. Either way, it can affect what you end up paying, which is why the shelf price alone doesn't tell the whole story.

Tax-included versus plus-tax pricing

Shops tend to display prices in one of two ways, and mixing them up is a common source of surprise at the register.

• Tax-included: the shelf or menu price already contains the taxes. The number you see is the number you pay.
• Plus tax: the posted price is the pre-tax amount. The excise, sales tax and any city tax line get added when you check out.

Neither approach is more honest than the other. A plus-tax price simply looks smaller on the menu, while a tax-included price looks bigger but holds steady at the counter. The trouble starts when you compare a plus-tax price at one shop with a tax-included price at another and assume they mean the same thing.

At Cannasseurs Club in North Hollywood, current prices are on the live menu, which is linked to the store's point of sale. Whichever shop you're in, if you're not sure whether a price includes tax, ask at the counter before you pay. A budtender can tell you the total for everything in your basket.

How to read a cannabis receipt

A receipt from a licensed California retailer should let you trace every dollar. Here's what to look for, from top to bottom.

1. Item prices. What each product costs before the tax lines below it.
2. Cannabis excise tax. A separate line for the 15% state excise. Retailers are required to state this one on its own.
3. Sales tax. Figured on the item total plus the excise. If you showed a state Medical Marijuana Identification Card with your government ID, this line should be zero.
4. City tax line, if there is one. Some Los Angeles shops show the city business tax here. Others fold it into the item prices, so you won't see it at all.
5. Total. The number that actually left your wallet. This is the figure worth comparing.

Even when a shop prices everything tax-included, the excise should still appear as its own line, because retailers must state it separately. The difference is that the lines add up to the shelf price instead of growing past it.

A worked example with round numbers

This example is an illustration only. It uses a round 10% sales tax rate to keep the math easy to follow. That is not the actual Los Angeles rate, which you can look up on the CDTFA site. It also leaves out the city business tax, since shops handle that in different ways.

Two things stand out. First, the $40 item costs a little over $50 once taxes are added, so in this example a plus-tax price lands about a quarter higher at checkout. Second, the sales tax is figured on $46, not $40, because it applies to the excise too. If a shop also passes the city business tax through as its own line, the total climbs further. In a tax-included shop, you would simply see one price on the shelf and pay that.

How to compare deals fairly across shops

A sticker price only means something once you know what it includes. Before you decide one shop is cheaper than another, run through these checks.

• Compare out-the-door totals. Put the final, after-tax numbers side by side. That is the only figure that's truly comparable.
• Ask "is that tax-included?" for any price on a sign, menu or ad, especially when one shop looks noticeably cheaper.
• Do the per-gram math. An eighth is about 3.5 grams. Dividing the out-the-door total by the weight makes an eighth and a half-ounce easy to compare.
• Read the fine print on deals. Check whether a deal price is shown before or after tax, so you know what you'll actually pay.
• Look at the whole basket. If you're buying several items, compare the total for the basket rather than one headline product.

Our current dispensary deals are a sensible place to start, and the live menu shows today's prices. Whatever shop you visit, the habit is the same: ask what the total will be before you pay, then compare.

The medical sales tax exemption

Medical patients who show a valid state Medical Marijuana Identification Card (MMIC) along with a government ID are exempt from sales tax on their cannabis purchase. The exemption covers sales tax only. The 15% state excise tax still applies to medical purchases.

Because the exemption is tied to the state-issued card, it's worth asking at the counter how your purchase will be taxed if you shop as a medical patient. The city side works a little differently too: the Los Angeles business tax on medical sales is 5% of gross receipts, half the adult-use rate. As with adult-use, that tax is on the business and may or may not show up as a line on your receipt.

What changed in 2025

If a receipt from summer 2025 looks different from one today, there's a reason. The state cannabis excise tax rose to 19% from July 1 to September 30, 2025, then returned to 15% on October 1, 2025. The basic structure stayed the same: the retailer still collects the excise at the point of sale (as it has since 2023), lists it separately, and sales tax is still figured on top of it.

Rates can change again, so read any tax figure you find online with a little caution, including the ones here. The CDTFA publishes guidance for cannabis retailers and a lookup for current sales tax rates. For the wider rules on who can buy, how much you can carry and where you can consume, see our guide to California cannabis laws, and if it's your first trip to a dispensary, our first-visit page walks you through the counter.

Frequently asked questions

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Sources: CDTFA: Cannabis retailers · CDTFA: Sales and use tax rates · City of Los Angeles Department of Cannabis Regulation

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For adults 21 and over, or 18 and over with a valid physician's recommendation. This guide is general information, not medical or legal advice. Cannasseurs Club, California license C12-0000361-LIC.