St. Louis Will Lose A Half-Million Dollars In Marijuana Tax Revenue After Failing To Submit Documents To Missouri Officials

“This is absolutely a preventable misstep. I’m hoping that we can get to the bottom of it in our budget committee.”

By Joe Mueller, The Center Square

The city of St. Louis will lose approximately $500,000 in tax revenue after it failed to submit documents with the Missouri Department of Revenue to collect a voter-approved recreational marijuana tax.

City voters approved a 3 percent tax on recreational marijuana in April. State law would have allowed the city to begin collecting the tax on October 1 if paperwork was filed by June 30.

Bill 139 was passed unanimously by the St. Louis Board of Aldermen last December to ask voters for permission to tax recreational marijuana by 3 percent. The state tax on recreational marijuana was set at 6 percent when Missouri voters approved the initiative last November.

“The City wishes to impose an additional sales tax to support efforts for the residents of the City of St. Louis to address historic inequalities,” the bill stated. “These efforts may include but are not limited to funding access to education, workforce opportunities, and youth engagement.”

“This is absolutely a preventable misstep,” Cara Spencer, a Democratic alderwoman who lost to Tishaura Jones in last year’s mayoral race, told KSDK. “I’m hoping that we can get to the bottom of it in our budget committee…exactly what happened here, what went wrong and make sure that we have clearly defined roles in our city departments that can prevent something like this from happening ever again.”