Both the Columbia City Council and the Boone County Commission have proposed taxes of 3% on sales of recreational marijuana products. The measures will appear on Tuesday’s ballot.
A key question is whether the taxes are “stackable” if both measures are approved. If so, that would result in a 6% tax on recreational marijuana sales within Columbia city limits, which would be on top of a 6% state sales tax on the products.
Cities and counties across the state have placed similar measures on the ballot. The Missouri Department of Revenue has said that it will offer no guidance on whether taxes imposed by city and county governments are stackable and that the matter probably will have to be settled by the courts.
If both taxes are approved, Boone County would collect both the city and county taxes, but it would set the city tax revenue aside in a separate fund until the state determines whether the taxes are stackable.
Local sales taxes on recreational marijuana were authorized, subject to voter approval, by Amendment 3, which passed in the November general election.
The city has roughly estimated the tax would generate from $400,000 to $1 million per year for its general fund. The City Council when it placed the measure on the ballot said it planned to spend proceeds of the sales tax on an educational campaign, services for those with substance…
