St. Charles Times

St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann has announced plans to appeal a recent court decision regarding the collection of a 3% tax on recreational marijuana sales. This decision follows a ruling by a three-judge panel of the Missouri Court of Appeals, which disagreed with an earlier Circuit Court judgment that allowed both county governments and towns within the county to collect the tax simultaneously.

Ehlmann stated his position after consulting with St. Louis County Executive Sam Page, expressing agreement on pursuing an appeal. "I’ve talked with St. Louis County Executive Sam Page, and we both agree it should be appealed," said Ehlmann.

The original ruling permitted dual taxation by counties and municipalities where recreational marijuana stores are located. However, the appeals court contended that this so-called "stacking" of taxes by multiple political entities is not permissible under current law.

Ehlmann pointed out that voters were led to believe otherwise when approving the tax, citing influence from the marijuana industry. "People voted to approve this tax because the language read ‘any’ local government could assess the tax and the industry led others to believe that included counties," he explained.

He further criticized the industry's role in drafting the constitutional amendment without clearly excluding counties from collecting taxes, suggesting this omission was strategic to avoid opposition.

Since its implementation, over $1.4 million has been collected through St. Charles County's portion of this tax. The Ehlmann Administration has proposed allocating these funds towards public safety initiatives, specifically for School Resource Police Officers as current ARPA funding is set to expire next year.

The legal debate centers around interpreting "any" within state statute related to recreational marijuana sales taxes: “Any local government is authorized to impose by ordinance or order an additional sales tax in an amount not to exceed 3% on all tangible personal property sales of adult use marijuana sold in such political subdivisions.”