Marijuana Company Stages Boston Tea Party-Style Protest Over Federal Tax Code 280E That Troubles Industry – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

The historical Boston Tea Party motto of “no taxation without representation” took on a new meaning on Wednesday when a major marijuana company marked the 250th anniversary of the act of civil disobedience by protesting federal code that prohibits the cannabis industry from making key tax deductions like other traditional businesses.

Dressed in colonial garb, executives and employees of the multi-state cannabis operator MariMed took to the Boston Harbor to raise attention to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code known as 280E. The stunt was a play on the December 1773 protest by early Bostonians over England’s monarchy raising the tax on tea, which involved pouring cases of the product into the sea.

As Congress works to advance a bipartisan marijuana banking bill, which advocates hope will be scheduled for a Senate Banking Committee vote this month, the company is highlighting another specific part of federal law that makes it so cannabis businesses are subject to significantly higher effective tax rates.

“Our protest was less about us and more to provide a voice for the entire industry,” MariMed CEO and President Jon Levine said in a press release. “Section 280E is unfair and hampers companies striving to make cannabis accessible for consumers and medical cannabis patients in all legal states. It should be repealed. Doing so would remove an obstacle to our mission to improve people’s lives every day through cannabis.”

While several states—including