"When you own a cannabis license under some trafficking law, you have a very punitive tax liability," said David Van Vlierbergen, CFO and co-founder at Fernway as he stood alongside Anthony Coniglio, founder, president and CIO of NewLake Capital Partners Inc (OTCQX: NLCP) at the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference in Miami.
"It’s encumbering every operator in a lot of ways,” continued Van Vlierbergen, who with Fernway CEO and co-founder Kit Gallant, are featured speakers at the upcoming Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference in Chicago. Mark your calendar for September 27-28.
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Cannabis & The IRS: A Struggle For Fair Taxation
To the audience's surprise, the conversation took a historical detour. “In a little fun fact, what happened was—I forget the criminal—but there was an offense that the IRS couldn’t go after because he had an illegal business. I think he actually won," Coniglio said.
Pausing momentarily for effect, he continued, "So then Congress enacted this rule 280E which says ...