[Adopted 7-13-2021 by Ord. No. 2021-43]
The City shall impose transfer taxes upon the following cannabis sales and at the following transfer tax rates: 2% of the receipts from each sale by a cannabis cultivator; 2% of the receipts from each sale by a cannabis manufacturer; 1% of the receipts from each sale by a cannabis wholesaler; 2% of the receipts from each sale by a cannabis retailer; and 2% on medical cannabis sales made at local dispensaries.
The City shall impose, at the equivalent transfer tax rates, a user tax on any concurrent license holder operating more than one cannabis establishment. Such user tax shall be imposed on the value of each transfer or use of cannabis or cannabis items not otherwise subject to the transfer tax imposed pursuant to § 647-42 hereinabove, from the license holder's establishment that is located in the City to any other license holder's establishments, whether located in the City or another municipality.
Such transfer tax or user tax imposed, as provided above, shall be in addition to any other tax imposed by law. Any transaction for which such transfer tax or user tax is imposed, or could be imposed, as provided herein, other than those which generate receipts from the retail sales by cannabis retailers, shall be exempt from the tax imposed under the Sales and Use Tax Act, P.L. 1966, c. 30 (N.J.S.A. 54:32B-1 et seq.).
Such transfer or user tax shall be collected or paid and remitted to the City by the cannabis establishment from the cannabis establishment purchasing or receiving the cannabis or cannabis item, or from the consumer at the point of sale, on behalf of the City by the cannabis retailer and/or cannabis dispensary, as the case may be, selling the cannabis item to that consumer, and/or cannabis patient.
The transfer or user tax shall be stated, charged and shown separately on any sales slip, invoice, receipt, or other statement or memorandum of the price paid or payable, or equivalent value of the transfer, for the cannabis or the cannabis item.
Every cannabis establishment required to collect a transfer or user tax imposed by this article shall be personally liable for the transfer tax or user tax imposed, collected, or required to be collected under this article. Any cannabis establishment shall have the same right with respect to collecting the transfer tax or user tax from another cannabis establishment or the consumer as if the transfer tax or user tax was a part of the sale and payable at the same time, or with respect to the nonpayment of the transfer tax or user tax by the cannabis establishment or consumer, as if the transfer tax or user tax was a part of the purchase price of the cannabis or cannabis item, or equivalent value of the transfer of the cannabis or cannabis item, and payable at the same time; provided, however, that the Chief Financial Officer of the City shall be joined as a party in any action or proceeding brought to collect the transfer tax or user tax.
No cannabis establishment required to collect a transfer tax or user tax imposed by this article shall advertise or hold out to any person or to the public in general in any manner, directly or indirectly, that the transfer tax or user tax will not be separately charged or stated to another cannabis establishment or the consumer, or that the transfer tax or user tax will be refunded to the cannabis establishment or the consumer.
All revenues collected from a transfer tax or user tax imposed by this article shall be remitted to the City's Chief Financial Officer in the manner provided by the City for such remittances. The City Chief Financial Officer shall collect and administer any transfer tax or user tax imposed by this article. The City shall enforce the payment of delinquent taxes or transfer fees imposed by this article in the same manner as provided for City real property taxes.
A. 
In the event that the transfer tax or user tax imposed by this article is not paid as and when due by a cannabis establishment, the unpaid balance, and any interest accruing thereon, shall be a lien on the parcel of real property comprising the cannabis establishment's premises in the same manner as all other unpaid municipal taxes, fees or other charges. The lien shall be superior and paramount to the interest in the parcel of any owner, lessee, tenant, mortgagee, or other person, except the lien of municipal taxes, and shall be on a parity with and deemed equal to the municipal lien on the parcel for unpaid taxes due and owing in the same year. Further, any and all licenses issued for the cannabis establishment shall be suspended until the transfer tax and user tax is paid in full.
B. 
The City shall file in the office of the Tax Collector a statement showing the amount and due date of the unpaid balance and identifying the lot and block number of the parcel of real property that comprises the delinquent cannabis establishment's premises. The lien shall be enforced as a City lien in the same manner as all other City liens are enforced.
As used in this article, each of the following terms shall mean the same as each term is defined in the Act[1]:
A. 
Cannabis.
B. 
Cannabis cultivator.
C. 
Cannabis establishment.
D. 
Cannabis grower.
E. 
Cannabis items.
F. 
Cannabis manufacturer.
G. 
Cannabis retailer.
H. 
Cannabis wholesaler.
I. 
Consumer.
J. 
Premises.
[1]
Editor's Note: The preamble to this ordinance defined "the Act" as P.L. 2021, c. 16, known as the "New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory, Enforcement Assistance, and Marketplace Modernization Act." See N.J.S.A. 24:6I-31 et seq.