Tax day = buzz kill for pot business owners

Mary Bruno

Mary Bruno Jun 30, 2025

Feb 6, 2018

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                <h1>Tax day = buzz kill for pot business owners</h1>
                <h2><p>Most businesses benefit from a whole barrel of federal tax deductions come April 15th. But not Washington's marijuana growers and retailers, who say they can’t write off a darn thing, even if they're duly licensed. No surprise, they want to change things. “We don’t</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/mary-bruno-crosscut-com/">Mary Bruno</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
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            <p>Most businesses benefit from a whole barrel of federal tax deductions come April 15th. But not Washington's marijuana growers and retailers, who say they can’t write off a darn thing, even if they're duly licensed. No surprise, they want to change things. “We don’t want special favors," Nick Cihlar, co-owner of Ferndale pot grower Subdued Excitement Inc. <a href="http://www.thenewstribune.com/2015/04/14/3740104_tax-day-is-source-of-unhappiness.html?rh=1&ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">told McClatchy reporter Rob Hotakainen</a>. "We just want to be treated like businesspeople.”</p>
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Most businesses benefit from a whole barrel of federal tax deductions come April 15th. But not Washington's marijuana growers and retailers, who say they can’t write off a darn thing, even if they're duly licensed. No surprise, they want to change things. “We don’t want special favors," Nick Cihlar, co-owner of Ferndale pot grower Subdued Excitement Inc. told McClatchy reporter Rob Hotakainen. "We just want to be treated like businesspeople.”

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By Mary Bruno

Mary was Crosscut's Editor-in-Chief and Interim Publisher. In more than 25 years as a journalist, she has worked as a writer, editor and editorial director for a variety of print and web publications,