Michigan's Q2 Wholesale Tax Printed $37.38M — What That Means at the Counter

You paid at a Detroit counter. The ticket printed 10% and 6%. It didn't print $37.38 million.

That second number landed in Lansing's July cash book, then on WJR on September 2, citing Crain's Detroit Business and the Michigan Treasury monthly financial report. I grow sun-grown organic flower for Divine Toke outside Detroit. I read a tax print the way I read a frost date: what actually cashed, and what still hits the jar. This is general information, not tax advice or legal advice.

Primary question this post answers: what Michigan's Q2 $37.38 million wholesale cannabis tax print means for a shopper at the counter.

If you want the origin story of the 24% layer, use our May explainer. If you want last month's "is it still live" watch, use the August tax watch. This one is the cash print.

What Did Michigan Print for Q2: $37.38 Million? #

The state's July cash book lists $37,377,000 under Wholesale Marihuana Tax for the month ending July 31, 2026. WJR, citing Crain's, reported that as $37.38 million for the second quarter. Those two figures are the same print, rounded.

Here's the official line from the State Budget Office monthly financial report for July 2026. The letter is dated August 28. State Budget Director Jennifer L. Flood signed it. The table is in thousands of dollars.

Line (Treasury July 2026 MFR)	July 2026 cash	Year-to-date through July 31	May 2026 forecast for FY 2026
Wholesale Marihuana Tax	$37.377 million	$73.404 million	$315 million
Recreational marihuana (the 10% you already knew)	$47.976 million	$272.075 million	$306.3 million

Read that table like a receipt.

• July cash of $37.377 million is the window Treasury set for Q2. Quarterly 2026 payments were due April 20, July 20, and October 20. Q2 activity ended June 30. Payment was due July 20. That's why journalism calls the July line the Q2 print.
• $73.404 million year-to-date is what the same book says has cashed since the fiscal year started. WJR rounded that to $73.4 million.
• The 10% recreational line is still bigger. In July alone, that older excise printed about $48 million. The new 24% printed about $37.4 million. Different tax. Different base. Both real.

Q1 context, so you don't mix the two prints: The Detroit News and WLNS reported nearly $34 million through April 30, from the April monthly financial report. WJR repeated that $34 million Q1 figure next to the new $37.38 million. Don't subtract the two Treasury rows and invent a third Q1 number.

On September 8, Gander Newsroom's MichiGanja report rounded the same story to "about $37 million" for Q2. Use Treasury and WJR if you want the exact print.

How to read that July line without mixing books #

The July wholesale line is a cash print, not a CRA sales print. Treasury counts what got remitted. The Cannabis Regulatory Agency counts what shops sold. Those are different rooms.

A few rules that keep the dollars honest:

• Use the official thousands. $37,377 in the July MFR is $37.377 million. WJR's $37.38 million is that number rounded for radio.
• Don't subtract YTD minus July and call it Q1. Journalism already published Q1 as nearly $34 million through April 30. Leave that figure where The Detroit News and WLNS put it.
• Compare like to like. The $315 million in the same table is a full-year forecast from the May 2026 consensus. The $420 million / $105 million pair is the older House Fiscal Agency year/quarter math from when the road bill passed.
• The 10% line is still the louder cash machine in that July month. About $48 million versus about $37.4 million. The 24% is still real. Retail excise just sits on a bigger retail base.

The May 24% explainer is still the origin story. This is the first full Q2 cash print you can hold next to a ticket.

Three things that number is not:

• A new line on your Grand River ticket.
• Proof the tax went away.
• The $105 million some road-plan math used for a single quarter.

How Does $37.38 Million Compare to the Road-Tax Projection? #

It's a real print, and it's still far under the quarterly and yearly forecasts lawmakers used when they sold the tax as road money. Who you believe about "too soon" versus "already a miss" is up to you. The dollars are the dollars.

Three forecasts keep showing up. They aren't the same clock.

Forecast	Amount	Who used it	What Q2 $37.38M is against that
House Fiscal Agency, when the tax passed	About $420 million a year, or about $105 million a quarter	Detroit News, WLNS, House analysis of the road bill	About one-third of a $105 million quarter
January / May 2026 consensus for this fiscal year	$315 million for FY 2025-26	Treasury July MFR; WLNS notes the tax started Jan. 1, so this is roughly nine months	YTD $73.4 million through July is well under a $315 million year
Q1 journalism	Nearly $34 million through April 30	Detroit News, WLNS	Q2 print is a bit higher than that first slice. Still nowhere near a catch-up to $105 million

WJR said Q1's $34 million was "only a third of the projected $105 million a quarter," and that $73.4 million so far is "a far cry" from $315 million for the fiscal year that ends October 1.

Where the money is supposed to go isn't a mystery. The Treasury wholesale-tax page says the 24% is deposited into the neighborhood road fund for infrastructure. Treasurer Rachael Eubanks's March 17, 2026 guidance says the revenue will be used to fix roads and bridges. That's the state's line. A short print means less of that road money cashed. Detroit didn't pour a new millage onto your jar.

In April, Robert Schneider at the nonpartisan Citizens Research Council of Michigan told Michigan Public that about $420 million a year was a big slice of a roughly $2 billion-a-year roads plan. If a court later knocks the tax out, he said, that would dent the long-term outlook. He said that before this Q2 print.

Two honest readings of the same $37.38 million:

1. The "too early" reading. David Zin, chief economist at the House Fiscal Agency, told MLive in July that early conclusions were "probably somewhat unfounded." He pointed to filing lag, shops stocking up before January 1, and customers buying ahead. He also said excise collections were on track, which made him think the wholesale forecast was still "solid."
2. The "already a miss" reading. Sen. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, who opposed the tax and co-sponsored a repeal, told MLive he found it "hard to believe they're going to get up to that $420 million figure." WLNS recalled Sen. Jonathan Lindsey, R, saying during the October debate that he doubted the tax would generate "anywhere near" $420 million.

I'm not picking a team. The July book printed what it printed. The next cash window is the October 20 payment.

This is a transition year. Treasury is asking for good-faith quarterly payments in 2026. Full 2026 returns, plus any leftover tax, are due January 20, 2027. Penalty and interest relief for the first three quarters exists if a business pays at least 75% of what it finally owes for each quarter and then files clean by that January date. A July print can still move when final returns land. Nobody should read that as the tax vanishing.

What Shows on a Detroit Receipt vs What Is Baked In? #

On an adult-use buy, you still see a 10% excise tax and 6% sales tax at checkout. The 24% wholesale tax doesn't get its own line. It can already be sitting in the shelf price. Treasury's FAQ says the new tax is in addition to those two, but at a different stage of the chain.

Revenue Administrative Bulletin 2026-3 is the official write-up. The wholesaler (the grower or processor making the first sale to a shop) pays. The shop is not the legal taxpayer on that 24%. The wholesaler may pass the cost through on an invoice. You never see that invoice. You see a jar.

The 10% you do see is MCL 333.27963, the voter-passed adult-use excise. Medical transfers under the medical laws are exempt from that 10%. Treasury also says the 24% does not apply to wholesale sales of medical marijuana. The exception is a dual-license shop moving product from medical inventory into adult-use inventory. That transfer is taxable.

Detroit doesn't add a city cannabis millage on the ticket. Local opt-out and "no extra local weed tax" still live in MCL 333.27956. If a township banned shops, it also doesn't get the municipal slice of the 10% leftover. You still pay the state stack when you buy in a city that allows stores.

Here's a clean way to read a Michigan adult-use ticket. I'm using shelf price as the sticker before the two checkout taxes. These are examples, not anybody's real menu.

What you bought	Example shelf price	10% excise	6% sales tax	What the ticket adds	Where the 24% lives
An eighth	$30	$3.00	$1.80	$4.80	Already in the $30, if the farm or shop passed it
A 1 gram pre-roll	$7.50	$0.75	$0.45	$1.20	Same: in the $7.50, not as a third line
A 20-pack (20 × 1g)	$120	$12.00	$7.20	$19.20	Same: in the $120

Those checkout add-ons are the 16% you can point at with a finger. The 24% is the quiet one. A cheap sticker can mean a shop ate some of it. A higher sticker can mean they didn't. The July print doesn't tell you which jar did which.

Medical vs adult-use, in one pass:

• Adult-use: 24% can be in the sticker. 10% and 6% print at the register.
• Medical (true medical inventory): no 24% on the wholesale of that medical lot. No 10% excise under MCL 333.27963. Sales tax is a separate general tax. Ask the shop what they are ringing. Don't assume a card deletes every tax.
• Dual-license shuffle: moving medical stock onto the adult-use shelf does trip the 24%, per Treasury.

If you're standing in a Metro Detroit shop after a shift, keep it simple. Read the two printed percents. Then ask whether the flower is adult-use or medical. Then decide if the sticker makes sense against last month's menu. The $37.38 million doesn't change that order.

Our August tax watch walked this stack before the Q2 number existed. The stack did not change. The cash book did.

Why Can a Cheap Menu Sit Next to a $37.38 Million Print? #

Because a tax can cash in Lansing while shops in Detroit still fight each other on price. Oversupply and a crowded legal map can hide a wholesale tax the same way a hoop house hides a cold night. The summer numbers back that up.

MLive looked at Cannabis Regulatory Agency figures through June. First-half 2026 versus first-half 2025:

• Flower volume down about 1.2%
• Vape-cartridge volume up about 12.4%
• Flower prices down about 1.5%
• Vape prices down about 2.8%
• Adult-use sales dollars down about 5.3%

That's a market that sold a little less flower, a little more vape, and took in fewer dollars, with the 24% already on the books.

July's official CRA month is the last full price book I'm using here. Adult-use flower averaged $58.95 an ounce. Adult-use sales were about $270.54 million. Those July figures are the ones our August policy wrap and tax watch already sourced to the CRA statistical-report page and DankReports. I'm not pulling a later ounce price from after this post's date.

Robin Schneider, executive director of the Michigan Cannabis Industry Association, told MLive the legal retail map is packed in the cities that opted in. She said that fight "has kept retail prices essentially flat for the time being," and that "wholesalers, growers and processors are absorbing the tax instead." She called the tax unconstitutional. That's her argument. The courts haven't finished.

MLive also said mass closures had not shown up in the June license count: two fewer active retail licenses than December, and 29 fewer grow licenses, about 3%. Sen. Irwin told the same reporter many shops were eating the tax, cutting staff, or making other cuts "because the market is the market."

Put the two books next to each other:

Book	What it said	What a Detroit shopper can do with it
Treasury July cash	$37.38 million (WJR's Q2 label on $37.377 million July wholesale)	The tax is being collected. A low menu is not a repeal.
CRA July flower	$58.95 / oz adult-use average	The legal ounce is still cheap by old-head standards.
MLive / CRA first half	Prices and sales dollars down vs 2025	Competition and extra flower still talk louder than a headline.
Schneider (June/July)	Growers and processors eating the 24%	You may not see the full tax in the sticker. Someone still paid Treasury.

A September jar on a Detroit menu is also a harvest story. If you're sniffing two dates on a label, use our harvest-date vs pack-date guide. Tax and terps aren't the same question. Check both before you pay.

Gas-station hemp is a different stack entirely. Licensed flower still sits under CRA and Treasury. That split is in our licensed vs gas-station THC piece. Don't mix a hemp ban headline with this wholesale print.

Who Is Saying What About the Q2 Print? #

As of September 10, 2026, Treasury printed the cash, WJR and Crain's named it a Q2 shortfall, MCIA says the road plan failed, fiscal staff says wait, and repeal bills are still in committee. Here's who said what. You can decide who sounds right.

Who	When	What they said	Source
Michigan Treasury / State Budget Office	July cash book; letter Aug. 28	Wholesale Marihuana Tax $37,377,000 in July; $73,404,000 year-to-date; $315 million May forecast	MFR July 2026
WJR, citing Crain's	Sept. 2	24% tax "generated $37.38 million" for Q2; up from ~$34 million in Q1; still short of $105 million a quarter and $315 million for the year	WJR; Crain's
Robin Schneider, MCIA	Sept. 2 on WJR; June quotes in print	On-air: revenue still lagging. In June: "This so-called road funding plan has failed exactly as the cannabis industry said it would." She said leaders made the industry a "sacrificial lamb."	WJR; WLNS
David Zin, House Fiscal Agency	July	Early "miss" talk is "probably somewhat unfounded." Excise on track. Wholesale forecast still "solid."	MLive
Sen. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor	July	Hard to believe the state hits $420 million. Repeal "this year" is unlikely because "this is the same Legislature that passed the tax." Warned of a black-market boost.	MLive
Sen. Jonathan Lindsey	Quoted June 4 from the October debate	Doubted the tax would generate "anywhere near" $420 million. He is the primary sponsor of the Senate repeal bill.	WLNS
Treasurer Rachael Eubanks	March 17	First-year guidance. Good-faith quarterly pay. Relief if businesses hit 75% and finish clean in January 2027.	Treasury news
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's office	June 4	Did not immediately comment on the Q1 shortfall, per WLNS. I don't have a sourced Whitmer quote on the $37.38 million print itself.
Rose Tantraphol, MCIA	Early April	The 24% "functions as a sales tax" and "tax pyramiding" that she says pushes consumers past the 6% constitutional sales-tax cap.	Michigan Public
Robert Schneider, Citizens Research Council	April 3	If courts kill the tax, it dents the long-term road-funding outlook.	Michigan Public

Repeal status as of this post's date, from official bill histories, not a rumor:

• Senate Bill 810 (Lindsey; Irwin is a cosponsor): introduced February 26, 2026. Referred to Senate Government Operations the same day. No later action on the legislature page.
• House Bill 6224 (Rep. James DeSana): introduced July 29, 2026. First reading. Referred to House Appropriations. Electronically reproduced August 11. Not law.

A bill in committee is not a cheaper eighth.

The court track is older than this print. Michigan Public described two MCIA theories: (1) the tax needed a three-fourths vote because it changes the 2018 voter law; the state says it is a road law that happens to tax cannabis. (2) A March 27 Court of Claims complaint on pyramiding. WLNS said a Court of Claims judge declined to block collection in December, and the first case was on appeal. MLive reported an April 2026 Michigan Supreme Court order sending that first case back for review. MLive said both suits were unresolved in July. I don't have a sourced ruling after July and before September 10.

Three political facts worth keeping:

1. The tax is still being collected.
2. Repeal has not passed.
3. Nobody I can cite gave a Whitmer quote on the $37.38 million itself.

What Should a Shopper Do With This Number? #

Treat $37.38 million as proof the 24% is live in the state's cash book. Then shop the ticket in front of you, not a Lansing forecast. A Detroit receipt is still 10% plus 6% on adult-use, plus whatever the shop already baked into the sticker.

A short counter list:

1. Read the two printed percents. If you only see 10% and 6%, that is normal. The 24% is not supposed to appear.
2. Ask adult-use or medical. A card can skip some cannabis layers. It doesn't automatically skip sales tax, and it doesn't rewrite a farm's invoice.
3. Compare sticker to last month, not to $105 million. If an eighth jumped and the jar is the same farm, someone may be passing more of the wholesale layer. If it did not jump, someone else may be eating it.
4. Don't use a cheap menu as a repeal rumor. Treasury printed the July line. WJR put it on the radio September 2.
5. Stay in the licensed shop. Gas-station hemp is a different legal pile. Our hemp crackdown piece is the map for that.
6. If you buy weight, do the 16% math once. A $120 20-pack of 1 gram joints adds $19.20 at the register in the example above. A single 1g at $7.50 adds $1.20. Those are checkout taxes. The 24% is already in the shelf number if it was passed through.

At Divine Toke, a sun-grown organic cannabis farm rooted in Detroit, Michigan, we sell flower, 1 gram pre-rolls, and a 20-pack (20 × 1g) at $120. We don't invent extra SKUs to make a tax story prettier. If you want to see the jar without a mystery eighth, start at the shop.

One more Metro Detroit habit: keep the last ticket. If the 10% and 6% look the same and the sticker jumped, the change is in the shelf price. If both moved, ask the shop what they rang. Don't argue with a budtender about a $315 million forecast. That number lives in Lansing.

The August wrap said we were still waiting on this print. We have it now. The August policy roundup stays useful for the rest of that month. This post is the cash line that landed after it.

Frequently Asked Questions #

Did Michigan's Q2 wholesale cannabis tax really print $37.38 million? #

Yes. That's the journalism label on Treasury's July cash line of $37,377,000. The July 2026 monthly financial report lists Wholesale Marihuana Tax at $37,377 thousand for July. WJR on September 2, citing Crain's, called it $37.38 million for the second quarter. Q2 payments were due July 20, so the July book is the print people mean.

Why doesn't $37.38 million show on my dispensary receipt? #

Because the 24% is a wholesale tax, not a third checkout line. Treasury says the wholesaler pays when product first moves to a retailer. You still see the 10% excise in MCL 333.27963 and 6% sales tax. The $37.38 million is the state's cash from that earlier step, not a sticker they forgot to print in Detroit.

How does $37.38 million compare to the $105 million quarterly forecast? #

It's about one-third of that quarterly figure. The nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency estimated about $420 million a year, or about $105 million a quarter, when the tax passed. WJR used that $105 million comparison. The May consensus number in the July MFR is $315 million for the whole fiscal year. Year-to-date through July is $73.404 million.

Did Detroit add a local cannabis tax on top of the state stack? #

No. Detroit doesn't print a city cannabis millage on the ticket. MCL 333.27956 is still the local-control statute, not a new weed millage. The 24% goes to the state's neighborhood road fund. A Grand River shop can still feel expensive. That's sticker and excise talking, not a Detroit cannabis tax.

Does a Michigan medical card skip the 24% wholesale tax? #

Medical wholesale is exempt. A card doesn't delete every tax by magic. Treasury says the 24% doesn't apply to wholesale sales of medical marijuana. MCL 333.27963 also exempts medical transfers from the 10% excise. If a dual-license shop moves that lot onto the adult-use shelf, the 24% does apply. Ask what inventory they are ringing.

If flower is still about $59 an ounce, did shops eat the tax? #

Some of the chain is eating it, per the July reporting. July adult-use flower averaged $58.95 an ounce on the CRA monthly book cited in our August wrap. Robin Schneider said growers and processors were absorbing the tax because shops are stacked on top of each other. A cheap ounce doesn't mean Treasury skipped the July line.

Is the 24% wholesale tax repealed as of September 10, 2026? #

No. Collection is live. The repeal bills have not become law. SB 810 still sits in Senate Government Operations after its February 26 introduction. HB 6224 still sits in House Appropriations after July 29 / August 11. Sen. Irwin told MLive he did not see a repeal passing this year. A lawsuit is not a repeal either.

When is the next wholesale-tax payment and the next public print? #

The next 2026 quarterly payment date is October 20. Full-year returns are due January 20, 2027. That calendar is in Treasurer Eubanks's March 17 guidance. Ron Leix told MLive Q2 receipts would show up in the August-season books. They did: the July MFR is dated August 28, and WJR wrote it up September 2. Watch the next monthly financial report the same way.

Where does the wholesale tax money go? #

Treasury says it goes to the neighborhood road fund for infrastructure: roads and bridges. That's on the official wholesale-tax page and in the March 17 release. It doesn't go back into a cannabis equity pot. A short print means less of that road cash landed. It doesn't change the 10% leftover split under MCL 333.27964 for the older excise.

What should I look at on a 1 gram or 20-pack ticket? #

Shelf price, then 10%, then 6%. That's the whole printed stack. On a $7.50 1 gram pre-roll, checkout taxes in the example are $1.20. On a $120 20-pack (20 × 1g), they are $19.20. The 24% is only in that shelf number if someone passed it. Divine Toke's shop list is flower, 1g joints, and that 20-pack. No extra SKU to "beat" the tax.

Bottom Line for Michigan Shoppers #

As of September 10, 2026, Michigan's 24% wholesale cannabis tax has a Q2 print: $37.38 million in the journalism, $37.377 million in Treasury's July cash book, $73.404 million year-to-date against a $315 million fiscal-year forecast. Your Detroit ticket still shows 10% and 6% on adult-use. The new layer still doesn't get a line. Repeal bills are still bills. Lawsuits are still lawsuits.

Both can be true at once. The legal ounce can still look cheap. Farms and independent shops can still be worn down. A low price can be a gift on a Friday night and a warning light for the person who grew the flower.

If a friend forwards you a screenshot of $37.38 million, send them this: the tax cashed. It did not print as its own line. The next payment date is October 20. After that, wait for the next monthly financial report. Same book, new month.

Keep the last Detroit ticket in the cup holder if you want a baseline. Next month's 10% and 6% should look familiar. The shelf price is the part that can move.

At Divine Toke, we grow sun-grown organic flower right outside Detroit, Michigan, and we'll keep saying which number cashed and which rumor doesn't hold up. If you're curious to try that flower, a 1 gram joint, or the 20-pack at $120, start here:

• Michigan's 24% wholesale cannabis tax
• Michigan cannabis tax watch (August)
• August 2026 policy roundup
• Harvest date vs pack date
• Shop sun-grown flower

Legal / tax disclaimer: This article is general information for educational purposes only. It is not tax advice and not legal advice. Rates, bills, court cases, and Treasury guidance can move. Talk to a Michigan tax professional or attorney about your facts.