Committee votes to zero out marijuana excise tax
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TweetThe borough’s finance committee voted to amend the ordinance on an excise tax of marijuana cultivated in the Haines Borough before it is imposed on the only local grower, Erika Merklin, when she turns in crops in on Oct. 30.
The ordinance was supposed to be clarified two months ago, but has been postponed and referred to committees twice in an effort to direct the staff to research and clarify to the assembly how an excise tax impacts local growers.
“I would vote to tax all cultivators, but I do not want to put the local cultivator at a disadvantage,” committee member Brenda Josephson said on Tuesday.
“Which they are right now,” borough manager Debra Schnabel added.
The committee discussed repealing the tax altogether in favor of a special sales tax levied at the consumer level and requiring a public vote, but repealing a tax would take several weeks. If the ordinance remains as is for the next few weeks, Merklin will be required to pay an excise tax of $5 per ounce on her crops.
In an effort to relieve Merklin of what the assembly agreed was an unfair tax burden, the finance committee will bring back the ordinance for amendment at the Oct. 23 assembly meeting. “You can amend it and make it zero,” borough clerk Alekka Fullerton suggested.
Committee members Josephson, Tom Morphet, and Stephanie Scott agreed they would support a sales tax on marijuana moving forward.
Morphet said the tax will need to go on the regular municipal ballot next year to get a true measure of what the town wants. “You’ll get all the voters in the valley, because if you have a special election you’ll only get people that are against it,” he said. “People that are for it won’t be motivated to go out of their way to vote on one item.”
