KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Council approved plans Thursday to implement a 3% local sales tax on recreational marijuana. Now it will be up to voters.
The council voted 11-2 in favor of the ballot question on a marijuana sales tax. Only council members Heather Hall and Brandon Ellington voted against it.
Three percent is the highest city sales tax allowed under Missouri’s Amendment 3 for recreational marijuana.
Still, leaders estimate the local tax could eventually add up to $10 million a year in revenue for Kansas City.
“This 3% allows us to invest in neighborhood quality of life — in trash pick-up, in homelessness prevention and, importantly, violence prevention — three things that we underfund regularly,” Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas previously told FOX4.
Separately, the state will also charge a 6% sales tax on all recreational marijuana purchases.
Kansas City’s local tax will not apply to medical marijuana purchases, and the state will keep its 4% tax rate for anyone with a medical marijuana card.
But in order for the city to collect this tax, voters have to approve it. The local marijuana sales tax will now appear as a ballot question in the April 4 municipal election for Kansas City voters.
Two other cities in the Kansas City area have already voted to put their own marijuana tax on the April ballot as well. Voters in Raytown and Liberty will weigh in on the tax this spring.
Meanwhile, several other cities are still considering a local marijuana tax, including Independence, Belton and Grandview. City leaders have to make a decision by the end of the month to get the issue on the April ballot.
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