NPR
The Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District determined that counties don’t have authority as a local government to impose an additional sales tax on recreational marijuana. In one case, cannabis customers paid a total sales tax of nearly 21%.
A panel of Missouri appellate judges ruled Tuesday that the constitution’s “plain, unambiguous” language means cities and counties cannot stack marijuana sales taxes.
The Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District’s decision reversed a lower court’s ruling in May that allowed both Florissant and St. Louis County to impose a 3% sales tax on marijuana products.
That resulted in customers at the Florissant-based dispensary Robust Missouri 3 LLC paying a total sales tax of 20.988% — a 14.988% sales tax rate plus the statewide 6% adult-use marijuana tax.
“The plain language of [the Constitution] is unambiguous,” Judge John Torbitzky wrote in the unanimous opinion. “Only one local government is authorized to impose an additional three percent sales tax.”
The constitutional amendment voters approved in 2022 legalizing recreational marijuana allowed local governments to impose additional sales tax on the products.
The question before the three-judge panel was: what did voters intend by “local government?”
The Constitution states that “local government” means, “in the case of an incorporated area, a village, town, or city; and, in the case of an unincorporated area, a county.”
At a hearing in October, attorneys for St. Louis and St. Charles counties argued the word “and” is key in the definition.
However, Robust argued voters intended for a county to be able to impose a sales tax only in unincorporated areas. The appellate judges agreed, saying “an incorporated area like Florissant, the village, town, or city is the ‘local government,’ not the county.”
According to Missouri Department of Revenue’s October data, 90 of the state’s 114 counties have enacted a 3% marijuana sales tax. Of those, 74 also include a municipality that has imposed the tax, meaning both city and county governments have been imposing a 3% tax at dispensaries.
“Today’s ruling helps put $3 million back into the pockets of Missouri customers each month,” said Andrew Mullins, executive director for the Missouri Cannabis Trade Association, “and will allow the industry to continue to contribute hundreds of millions each year in sales tax revenue to the state and our local communities.”
The association’s estimate of $3 million in excess taxation is based on Missouri’s monthly average of $105 million in adult-use cannabis sales.
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https://www.kcur.org/news/2024-11-12/missouri-marijuana-sales-tax-legal-weed-cannabis-costs
