Cannabis Excise Tax Revenue Sharing with Local Governments

Whereas the Government of Canada intends to legalize non-medical cannabis on October 17, 2018, and has taken the following actions regarding cannabis excise tax revenue sharing: -agreed to the Federal-Provincial-Territorial Agreement on Cannabis Taxation, which provides for the federal transfer of cannabis excise tax revenue to provinces and territories; and, -increased the percentage of cannabis taxation revenue to be transferred to provinces and territories in order to help local governments manage impacts associated with the legalization of non-medical cannabis; And whereas in the absence of fulsome data the Union of BC Municipalities UBCM Executive has endorsed: -a principled approach to guide the negotiation of a cannabis excise tax revenue sharing agreement with the Government of British Columbia: 1Cannabis legalization should not result in additional local government funding by property taxpayers. 2Local governments should be reimbursed for costs associated with the implementation of legalized cannabis. 3Local governments should be reimbursed for any additional policing costs resulting from cannabis legalization. 4Remaining excise tax revenue after taking out expenses incurred as part of principles 1-3, and the federal share should be shared between the Province of BC and local governments. -a short- and long-term cannabis excise tax revenue sharing strategy, which among other things seeks to adopt the Ontario cannabis excise tax sharing model as the framework for determining an agreement in British Columbia. Therefore be it resolved that UBCM advance its short- and long-term strategy for cannabis excise tax revenue sharing to the Province of British Columbia for the purpose of negotiating a provincial-local government revenue sharing agreement.