Two New Castle County Councilmembers hope to levy a local tax on retail marijuana products in its meeting Tuesday.
New Castle County Council will hear a resolution sponsored by Councilmembers Janet Kilpatrick and Kevin Caneco on instating a local tax on retail marijuana sales.
The Delaware Marijuana Control Act established a 15 percent state tax on retail sales, but counties don’t currently have the ability to put additional taxes in place.
If passed, the resolution in New Castle would lead council members and staff to draft a bill. If the General Assembly passes that bill, it would revise the Act to allow counties with more than 500 thousand residents to levy a local tax up to 5 percent.
One of the prime sponsors Janet Kilpatrick said she’s optimistic going into Tuesday’s council meeting.
“I, first of all, can't even imagine why we wouldn't ask,” Kilpatrick said. “I mean, they can turn us down, but if we don't ask, we will never know… We've designated that the proceeds from that tax would go to a couple of different programs, one of them being public safety.”
The resolution states that at least half of the revenue from the tax would go to public safety and programs supporting disproportionately harmed communities in New Castle.
Kilpatrick said she envisions some of those funds going toward programs creating housing.
“This takes nothing away from [the state]. This isn't saying, ‘Oh, we want 3% of your 15%.’ This says, ‘Can we put a tax on top of yours?’ So you get the 15%. We get up to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 – whichever-they-would-allow-us-to-have percent because it's going to affect some of our services.”
Wilmington City Council has considered a similar ask of the General Assembly with little support from state legislators.
New Castle County Council will hear the resolution at Tuesday’s council meeting.
