Regulators closed one of Washington state’s early marijuana businesses – cultivator Nine Point Growth Industries – for allegedly failing to pay taxes.
And, for the first time, the state confiscated and eradicated all the plants belonging to a licensed MJ company.
Agents with the state Liquor and Cannabis Board late last week shuttered the company, which has grown and produced recreational marijuana in West Bremerton since September 2014. It was the state’s second licensed cannabis business.
An agency spokesman cited recurring tax issues as the reason for the closure, the Kitsap Sun reported.
The seizure and destruction of crops for violation of state regulations was a first in Washington, the spokesman said.
Nine Point Growth had a $29,000 tax bill when the agents snatched roughly 2,000 plants and clones, the newspaper reported. It had owed as much as $85,000 in the past.
Guess the Oregon rope is pretty short. Too bad they could not catch up but Darwinism seems to prevail in spite of our best wishes.
That would be the Washington rope Brett. Oregon, for all of it’s hiccups, still seems to run more smoothly than our neighbor to the north. In any event, there is still no excuse for failing to play by the rules. And while it does take a team to succeed, a bit of business acumen doesn’t hurt.
With all the income to fall behind like that is what the f*** where you doing. I agree with Brett Roper.
It takes a team of people who are diligent to do the job right for a pot company to be successful. Unfortunately it is vary hard to find those people in the time frame demands of the WSLCB. Their 90 withdrawal warning letters caused a lot of bad business partnerships that led to many quick failures.
I’m not sure of the particulars of this case, but I am of the understanding in my State of North Carolina often times taxes are expected to be paid pre-crop (not cannabis but other agricultural products) based on projected revenue anticipated. If a business does not have a large fallback tax account to pay this “extortion” it could be found in default of “rules” as well… Governments don’t care about anything but collection of revenue, regardless of what it does to businesses or those whose livelihood depends on it
Maybe I’m being overly suspicious of the story presented here, but it seems like something’s not being reported. If the government just wanted their money, and for that money to continue filling their coffers, they’d have worked something out with the guy. But to seize his plants and destroy them is worse than asset seizure, it’s asset destruction. Seems to me that somebody wanted the guy out of business. Maybe I’m crazy…
Need to follow the rules all of us that do are still in business :)business 101