Report
The City should improve the transparency and accountability of the recreational cannabis tax revenue, according to our audit.
Published
Portland voters approved a tax on recreational cannabis sales in 2016. The tax was promoted as funds that would benefit and support individuals and cannabis businesses owners that were adversely affected when cannabis was illegal. Since that time, most of the taxes collected have been used for police and transportation programs. While the uses are allowed under the ballot measure, community members, cannabis businesses, or others affected by past cannabis policies have not been involved in the overall budget decisions, and the City has not reported on how it’s used the tax revenues. We recommend the City improve the transparency of tax allocation decisions and results.