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St. Louis County and Municipal Marijuana Tax Proposition M's are Fraudulent Tax Grabs

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  • Source: Author
  • 03/24/2023
St. Louis County and Municipal Marijuana Tax Proposition M's are Fraudulent Tax Grabs
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We do need a big effort to get the vote out in St. Louis County to stop Prop M.  The system will vote for this massively.  General population turnout will be extremely low.  We need make sure this goes down in smoke because we can’t fix it later if it passes.

We must get all conservatives all over the county to vote NO on both the County and Municipal Prop M’s.

Below are the  why we must stop it:
 
  1. President Ronald Reagan: Read my lips: No New Taxes
  1. These constitute an attempt to jack up taxes for services we are already paying for.  In some cases they are political slush funds.  If both the county and municipal Prop M’s pass the tax rate could be between 15 – 18%  (see analysis below). 
  1. High legal marijuana prices means that “legal” pot shops and growers do not make ends meet because they are undersold by cartel-operated illegal grows, smuggling, illegal pot shops, sell more illegal weed at half the price or less.
The above translates into:
 
    • More violent drug cartel activity operating in our area.
Adams, Col. Joe Man who fought drug cartels says they’ve come to St. Louis - YouTube (this is a very important video!) The cartels now own most of city politics and some in the county.  We must NOT do anything to line their pockets as a matter of public safety and security of the citizens.
 
    • Tax revenue is well below estimates
 
    • Legal growers built expensive facilities, but cannot profit by selling only to legal pot shops – who cannot nearly make sales targets.  So, legal growers sell product out the back door to make ends meet and dump excess product.   They sell to locals, who sell it under the table in their local businesses, and may also be selling to drug cartels.
 
    • Illegal grows are endemic in marijuana-legal states
Summary of the Issues Involved: Costs for finding, removing, and enforcing criminal and environmental laws are very high. Colorado had to establish a special prosecutor’s office to handle this problem, but it is greatly understaffed and unable to cope with the workload.  There is no funding allocated – the State has to redirect funds from General Revenue.
 
Note: homes used as grow houses must be torn down because toxic chemicals and mold cannot be repaired.  When they are cleared out, it must be done by individuals wearing hazmat suits
 
    • Serious environmental damage caused by illegal grows
Summary of the Issues: 
        1. Illegal grows cause severe damage to forested habitat and waters due to noxious chemicals used to grow marijuana. 
        2. Severe water depletion occurs because marijuana is a very thirsty plant.  Water is diverted to pot grows. This has caused significant water shortages in dry states.
        3. Pot grown indoors requires a lot of electricity. This is usually stolen by renting a home and jumpering the electric meter. On a large scale, this causes brownouts in states and localisties with a shortage of generating capacity.
  1. The language of Prop M does not say if the 3% tax is on top of the 11.99% tax cap listed in https://www.sales-taxes.com/mo/st-louis-county.   If not on top, all cities in the county will be pegged at an 11.99% tax.  If on top, the tax rate would be between 12-15%.  As stated above, high pot prices will NOT reduce usage of marijuana.  It will only increase underground crime, violence, and other costly problems to the state, county, and municipalities.
 
  1. There are different versions of Prop M in St. Louis County and various municipalities. 
  • The county version does not really say what it is for.  The county Council is being evasive about it.   It appears to be a slush fund.
The Ballot says “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?”

The St. Louis Post Dispatch hit the panic button on the County Prop M: https://www.stltoday.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-countys-300-000-prop-m-education-campaign-is-designed-to-sway-a-yes-vote/article_3c0467f9-ea3e-533b-971b-a72ef286be95.html

“ There’s a good chance one or more state laws were bent to the breaking point in this process, which is why Sullivan wants the state Attorney General’s office to intervene. Voters deserve to be skeptical because the county’s goal isn’t voter education. It’s to generate cash to fill a gaping budget hole.”

Nobody knows what the “education program” the County Council has in mind is really for.  They say it is to educate tax-averse users about where their tax money is going.  That is nonsense because there is no reason for this “education” program if the measure passes.  The fact that the sum was magically increased from $150,000 to $300,000.

My take:  The County Council wants a slush fund going to a private contractor which can be washed into political contributions, social justice activism, or to fund political organizing work by Sam Page.  Dr. Faisal Khan was doing community organization work for Sam Page before the County Council refused to confirm him as health director after he called County Council Chair Rita Days a “racist”.  Page had to fire him, but still needs another dark ops organizer working for him going into the next election.
 
  • The Creve Coeur ballot language gives City Council ability to order up to 3% tax for “public safety”.
  • The Glendale ballot language does not say what it is for.   City Council will impose a 3% tax on all adult recreational pot.  It is another slush fund.
  •  Piggyback Double Taxation?:  Both the Creve Coeur and Glendale versions state “The 3% sales tax on adult use marijuana would be in addition to the 6% state tax on recreational marijuana and all other applicable sales tax in place”.
The expansive language above suggests that municipal taxes could legally be levied in addition to the St. Louis County taxes – 6% total – apparently on top of sales taxes and the 11.99% maximum tax cap listed in https://www.sales-taxes.com/mo/st-louis-county

I am unable to find Missouri statute or county ordinance declaring the 11.99% cap to be absolute.  If the cap is not absolute, we would have to litigate to stop duplicitous tax grabs of 15-18% on pot. Absent Supra case law in the Missouri Courts defining the county tax cap to be absolute, we would have expensive, steeply uphill litigation on our hands. 

We do not have time to monkey around with the details at this time. The combination of expansive language in these propositions not stipulating adherence to existing 11.99% County limit on total state/county/municipal taxes says these Propositions MUST be rejected on language alone.

We know that high pot prices will result in big increases in illegal drug activity, cartel violence, and underground marijuana grows, which will forever cost tremendous amounts of money far in excess of taxes, to ameliorate.  While conservatives are totally against pot, we must operate knowing that laws of supply, demand, and pricing being what they are, keeping a lid on retail pot prices will save billions in consequential downstream costs to the state, counties, and municpalities.
 
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