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City Affairs: A plan to impose city taxes on marijuana goes too far in capitalizing on tantalizing potential streams of tax revenue.

This November, a ballot measure to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana will come before California's voters.  If passed, adults statewide will be able to legally roll up a joint and smoke it for recreational purposes.  Berkeley's reputation for being a haven for marijuana consumers could become one the rest of the state would share.

Politicians, eager to find the new revenue streams needed to maintain services in this economic climate, are quickly exploring ways to turn marijuana into easy tax money for their respective jurisdictions.  We certainly cannot fault them for this.

However, we are concerned about Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates' plan to impose a 2.5 percent city tax on medicinal marijuana and a 10 percent city tax on recreational marijuana, if it is legalized in November.

Medicinal marijuana, legalized statewide by Proposition 215, is already subject to a state sales tax.  This is in contrast to conventional prescription drugs, an inconsistency which we find troubling.  A 2.5 percent tax is higher than Oakland's 1.8 percent tax level, a reduction to which would be a reasonable compromise.

Moreover, Mayor Bates' proposal for a 10 percent recreational marijuana tax is excessive.  Part of the rationale for legalizing marijuana is to reduce the violent drug cartel crime associated with the illegal trafficking of the product.

However, Bates' proposed tax, when combined with state sales and excise taxes, threatens to make the cost of the legal product high enough to allow the drug cartels to maintain their stake in the trade.  A lower tax, for the narrower purpose of funding the regulation of the legalized product, would be a much more reasonable idea.  Of course, it would make sense for the recreational marijuana tax to exceed the medicinal cannabis tax.

While we have not yet decided whether to support legalizing marijuana, we recognize the tax revenue it would bring is one of the most attractive benefits of the idea.  However, we urge politicians to proceed here with caution and restraint.