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Comedian Bill Maher and actor Woody Harrelson unloaded on the state of California over its business climate during Maher’s “Club Random” podcast on Monday.
Maher and Harrelson co-own a cannabis dispensary and lounge in West Hollywood called The Woods. The pair discussed the difficulties of owning a pot shop in the liberal state.
“We’re trying. It’s not easy to make a business work in California,” Maher said as he explained why he decided to record the April 20 episode at the pot store.
Harrelson agreed and added, “California just messes with every business.”
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“I mean, I don’t want to like start this off — why not? Why, just s—ing on California. But California deserves to be s— on for a lot of this kind of stuff. And people know and this is why people flee the state,” Maher continued.
The comedian said it “sucks” to do any kind of business in California, but said the state still treats cannabis like it’s “poison.”
“They treat it like you’re lucky that we allow you to do this, and so we’re going to tax you 35%, which is way more. It’s more than double anything,” Harrelson said.
California has a 15% gross receipts tax on the retail sale of cannabis or any cannabis product. It briefly rose to 19% in 2025, but a bill passed in September brought it back down to 15%.
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However, with other local taxes and the state’s sales tax, the rate can exceed 30%.
Later in the discussion, the pair said business at their store was picking up, and Harrelson hammered the tax rate again.
“But I tell you what, there’s nothing we can do when the government is charging 35%. Like they can’t tax us 35%, it’s not right,” he said.
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California metro areas have seen net losses from businesses and corporations leaving the state, led by the San Francisco Bay Area, with a net loss of 156 headquarters since 2018.
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