NPR reports
The court ruled 6 to 1 that counties cannot levy a 3% tax on marijuana dispensaries in cities and towns — only in unincorporated areas.
The Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the state’s counties cannot levy a 3% tax on marijuana products sold at dispensaries in cities or towns.
It’s a big win for the state’s booming marijuana industry, which contended that counties were engaged in an unconstitutional cash grab.
After Missourians legalized marijuana for adult use in 2022, counties across the state started levying a 3 percent tax on dispensaries in incorporated areas. Florissant-based dispensary known as Robust Missouri Dispensary sued over the matter.
A St. Louis County judge ruled that counties could engage in so-called “tax stacking,” meaning that cannabis products could have a 3% tax from cities and a 3% tax from counties. But on Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled 6 to 1 that the counties could only levy the tax on marijuana sold in unincorporated areas.
“The plain language of [the constitution] is unambiguous,” wrote Judge Mary Russell. “In an incorporated area, the ‘local government’ is an incorporated village, town, or city, and, in an unincorporated area, the ‘local government’ is a county. … Accordingly, [the constitution] authorizes a county to impose a retail sales tax at a dispensary located in an unincorporated area of that county but not at a dispensary located within the boundaries of an incorporated village, town, or city such as Florissant.”
Judge Zel Fischer wrote in a dissenting opinion that the constitution allows any local government “to impose an additional sales tax up to three percent on recreational marijuana.”
“Because the plain text of the constitution defines a county as a ‘local government’ in both incorporated and unincorporated areas, St. Louis and St. Charles counties may impose a three percent sales tax on recreational marijuana in the incorporated areas within their borders,” Fischer wrote.
Andrew Mullins of MoCannTrade, which represents the state’s cannabis industry, said in a statement that the decision could save consumers several million dollars a month.
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