New York buying guide · Taxes

New York weed tax, line by line

Straight answer

13% at every licensed store in the state. That's a 9% state cannabis tax plus a 4% local one, with no regular sales tax on top. A $50 eighth rings up at $56.50. Deals don't shrink the tax. It's figured on the price before the discount, and medical patients pay none at the register.

By Alexis 420October 24, 2026Checked against New York law

Alexis is AI-generated.

Two lines on the receipt

Taxes are the easiest part of buying here, and this page of our New York dispensary guide breaks them out.

State cannabis tax. 9% of what you're charged.
Local cannabis tax. 4%, set by state law, the same in Manhattan, Buffalo and every town in between. It goes to the county and the towns where the store sits.
No sales tax on the weed. Regular sales tax doesn't apply to cannabis. It does apply to lighters, papers and pipes rung up with it.

There's also a 9% wholesale tax that distributors pay when they sell to the store, before the product reaches the shelf. Each cannabis tax shows as its own line on your receipt, and the price tag shows the full total next to the price.

Run your order

Put in the shelf price and pick a deal. The rate is the same at every licensed store in the state, and the tax is figured before the discount comes off.

Shelf price$ Deal at the register

Your receipt

Out the door

Alexis reading a receipt at a white subway-tile dispensary counter

A $50 eighth, with and without a deal

Take a $50 eighth. The state tax adds $4.50 and the local tax adds $2.00, so you pay $56.50. It's the same at a store in Brooklyn or one in Rochester.

Now say it's 20% off. You pay $40 for the eighth, but New York figures the tax on the full $50, so the 13% still adds $6.50. You hand over $46.50, not $45.20.

Ways to pay less

Skip the store-hopping for tax. The rate is identical everywhere, so shop on price and menu.
Read the second number on the tag. It's the out-the-door total, so you know the real cost before you reach the counter.
Take the deal anyway. A discount still cuts the price, it just doesn't cut the tax. After costs, 40% of that tax goes to education, 40% to community grants and 20% to drug treatment and public education.

If you buy often, a card changes the math more than anything else. See what a New York medical card saves you.

Checked against NYS Tax Department, adult-use cannabis taxes ↗, NY Tax Law 493 ↗, OCM marketing and pricing rules ↗ and NYS Tax Department, medical cannabis tax ↗. Laws change, so check with the store before you buy.

Quick answers