Colorado agriculture bill advances with no marijuana ban

[unhappycamper]

http://gazette.com/colorado-agriculture-bill-advances-with-no-marijuana-ban/article/1514595



In this Thursday, Feb. 6, 2014 photo, Meg Sanders inspects drying marijuana at her grow house in Denver. The agriculture tax questions facing the marijuana industry are the latest wrinkle for the states flouting federal drug law and trying to establish commercial recreational pot industries. The states have settled how to tax marijuana once it's dried and ready to smoke. But they're still debating how to tax it while it's growing.

Colorado agriculture bill advances with no marijuana ban
Associated Press • Updated: February 13, 2014 at 4:35 pm • Published: February 13, 2014

DENVER (AP) — Marijuana growers in Colorado avoided being singled out in an agriculture tax measure that advanced Thursday.

The bill codifies tax practices for greenhouses and nurseries, which are considered agricultural property and not commercial property in most cases. That makes them eligible for lower property taxes.

The sponsor of the greenhouse bill proposed an amendment to say marijuana-growing sites can't qualify. But a Democratic Senate committee rejected the amendment last week.

The change left confusion about the fate of the overall tax measure, which sparked little notice until the pot amendment was added. Without the marijuana amendment, the Senate Finance Committee approved the bill 5-0. It now awaits a vote by the full Senate.