AURORA | City Council made its latest move in the legal battle over Adams County’s marijuana sales tax during Monday night’s regular city council session.
Council members unanimously approved an ordinance Monday night that would amend the city’s tax code to not recognize “any sales tax on a transaction not subject to collection by the City or the State of Colorado.”
Councilwoman Molly Markert was absent from the meeting and did not vote.
The ordinance comes on the heels of a legal challenge Aurora and two other cities lost in September against the newly enacted Adams County recreational marijuana sales tax. Aurora City Attorney Mike Hyman confirmed Aurora, Northglenn and Commerce City will be appealing that ruling.
Adams County voters approved a 3-percent county sales tax in the November 2014 election, which Aurora, Northglenn and Commerce City have subsequently sued the county over, arguing the county does not have the authority to tax recreational marijuana.
In a recent budget hearing, city officials noted that the ordinance would only be of legal value in notifying Adams County that the City of Aurora would not do anything to enforce collection of the tax. But at the same time, there’s little Aurora can do to preclude Adams County from collecting marijuana sales tax revenues from the affected businesses.
“If Adams County comes to us and asks us to collect it, we won’t do so without an intergovernmental agreement,” said Trevor Vaughn, manager of the city’s tax and licensing division, before the meeting.
Colorado imposes a 10 percent sales tax on marijuana sales, and municipalities levy their own tax, too. Aurora and Northglenn each impose a 2 percent sales tax on recreational marijuana while Commerce City imposes a 7 percent tax on it.
Why are we fighting a sales tax on pot? Why are we not letting everyone and their brother to tax the hell out of pot? If people want to smoke it that bad, they’ll pay. If they don’t want to pay – the stench will go away.
The higher the cost of raising, inspecting, merchandizing, taxing of Pot, the more will be spent by authorities to find where grown, by whom, and what strengths. Did you not watch the History Channel in past years of the authorities and Pot farmers – dealers- sellers in California.
How many acres of our Colorado Mountain Rockies would become off-limits for the illegal growers setting trip bombs, and shooting folks who came near their pot farms in the mountains. Did you not read of the two guys, plus others arrested by DEA, and local authorities, in arranging to sell 50 tons of pot , to folks in New Mexico? Do you think those would be the only two in the San Juan mountains, growing and selling across country to willing buyers.
And have you no feelings for all those who are consuming the tons of illegal imported pot, meth, and other drugs across our southern border, as well as that grown or manufactured within the borders of Colorado? Did you also check the numbers of babies and small children now showing up at doctor offices and clinics as addicted at birth, and after birth, because their young parents give the candies or even the pot smoke to babies to inhale? Really, you need to think this through more, and be sure to read the doctor reports, and there are testing programs now, with it being legal in some states, but still very illegal on federal level. By doctors reports, it feeds same ‘pleasure’ parts of brain as heroin and meth, and cocaine.
Time will tell, just as with tobacco and alcohol use over the years, let us know they were dangerous, and not really needed in the human body. There are other ways of combating pain, or other problems
In 86 years, I learned early about tobacco and alcohol. No tobacco since 1961 for me, and I used more alcohol to cook, then to drink.
That is moronic. Doing that with a product that already has a very established black market will simply drive everyone back to it.
If you tax pot too much, then sales will go underground and on the street corners and parking lots. But, I don’t care!