ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Citizens in St. Louis County will vote on Proposition M during the next election on Tuesday, April 4.
Prop M asks whether the county should impose an additional 3% sales tax on adult use of marijuana. The tax would only apply to recreational use, not medical use.
The official ballot language will read:
"Shall St. Louis County impose an additional sales tax of three percent (3%) on all tangible property retail sales of adult use marijuana sold in St. Louis County, Missouri?"
In November 2022, Missouri voters approved Constitutional Amendment 3 which legalized the use and the recreational sale of marijuana to those aged 21 and older.
The amendment also placed a 6% state sales tax on purchases and authorized local governments to add a 3% sales tax.
Voters in other counties in the St. Louis area are also being asked to consider a tax on recreational marijuana sales. In St. Charles County it is called Proposition 3 and in the City of St. Louis it is just called Proposition.
Many cities in the St. Louis area have their own propositions on April ballots to add city taxes to recreational marijuana sales. It is unclear if taxes would be capped at 9% with city taxes superseding county taxes or if the two taxes would stack to 12% if a city and county both passed a proposition.
In its first weekend, recreational marijuana sales totaled $8,500,900 from Friday, Feb. 3 to Sunday. Feb. 5. Another $4,189,065 in medical marijuana was also sold in Missouri over the weekend.
Missouri brought in more than $500,000 on the first weekend of sales due to the sales tax of 6% on purchases.
In the month of February, sales exceeded $100 million. $31.2 million was medical use sales and $71.7 million was recreational sales.
According to St. Louis County, they estimate Prop M will bring in about $3.5 million in revenue annually.
The county would use the funds for general purposes including police, parks and roads, according to the county's website.
The sales tax question will be on more than 100 Missouri counties and municipalities for the April ballot including Kansas City and St. Charles County.
Find more information about Prop M and St. Louis County here.