Recreational marijuana tax in and around Kansas City going up after easy election wins

Voters across the Kansas City metro area easily approved new taxes on the state’s burgeoning recreational marijuana industry in Tuesday’s local elections .

Cities across the area and the state approved imposing an extra 3% tax on recreational marijuana purchases.

In Kansas City, the new tax won support from more than 70% of those who voted in Tuesday’s election. The marijuana tax proved popular across the metro area, running up wide margins in urban, suburban and rural areas.

In unofficial results, the vote was 33,637 to 12,271 in favor of the tax in in Kansas City.

With little to no organized opposition and low turnout elections, the tax easily passed in cities across the state. Those include Columbia, Joplin and St. Louis, according to early results.

Locally, voters in Jackson County and Cass County also approved new 3% tax, though the question of whether cities and counties can simultaneously tax marijuana will likely be determined by the courts.

The vote was 41,102 to 22,133 in Jackson County.

What’s clear is that cities across the region will soon start benefiting from a newfound revenue stream — viewed as crucially important at a time when federal pandemic aid for local governments is expiring.

In the first month of legalization, Missouri officials reported more than $100 million in recreational marijuana sales.

In Independence, city officials expect to bring in $1 million to $3 million per year in the first few years of legalization, said Mayor Rory Rowland. That’s less than 1% of the city’s budget of more than $330 million, but the mayor still described the potential revenue as “significant.”

The ballot measure easily passed in Independence, where leaders plan to direct the funds toward a new public safety center. Expected to cost more than $50 million, that project would replace the city’s outdated jail and police headquarters building.

“That’s just really important for us to have,” Rowland said.

Unofficial results show the issue was easily approved in several other Jackson County cities including Sugar Creek, Blue Springs, Lone Jack and Lee’s Summit.

In Clay County, Gladstone, Excelsior Springs, Liberty and Smithville voters all approved the new tax with more than 70% support, according to unofficial results.

In Platte County, voters in Northmoor, Riverside and Weston easily approved the new tax.

Patients with state-issued medical marijuana cards will not be charged the new 3% taxes approved by voters Tuesday.

The constitutional amendment legalizing marijuana for recreational use approved by Missouri voters in November allowed local governments to add up to a 3% tax — but only if voters approve it. That’s on top of regular state and local sales taxes and the state’s 6% recreational marijuana tax.

Originally, that was interpreted to mean that cities could implement the new tax within their borders and counties could do the same in unincorporated areas — but not both. Officials in Jackson, St. Charles and St. Louis counties, though, argue that they should be able to stack the taxes — essentially levying up to 6% extra if ballot measures passed this week.

The dispute will likely end up in front of a judge now that simultaneous county and city taxes have been approved by voters.

“Ultimately the courts will work this out,” said Jack Cardetti, spokesman for the Missouri Cannabis Trade Association, a group that includes most of the state’s cultivation, manufacturing and dispensary operators.

The question appeared on ballots in more than 100 Missouri cities.

John Payne, who led the marijuana legalization campaign last fall, previously said he expects favorable outcomes this April will lead other cities to put the question on future ballots.

In polling during the legalization campaign, organizers learned that extra tax revenues were among the most persuasive arguments for allowing recreational marijuana sales.

“I’m certain that anyone that didn’t put it on the ballot for this cycle who sees those revenues coming in other places will probably put it on the ballot for a future election,” he said. “I doubt there’s going to be a whole lot of places where there are dispensaries in the state that don’t ultimately put this on the ballot.”