Montana county putting marijuana sales tax back on ballot after clerical error

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Because of an administrative error, a rural county in Montana must put a local sales tax on the November ballot even though the taxes – for both recreational and medical marijuana – were approved by voters a few weeks ago.

According to TV station KBZK, residents of Gallatin County – which includes Bozeman – will have to vote again on the two ballot measures that authorized a 3% excise tax on both adult-use and medical cannabis because county authorities forgot to include the tax questions in an election notice 30 days before the June 7 primary election.

In that election, Gallatin County voters, along with those from 11 other counties, gave a thumbs-up to marijuana tax measures.

But, because Gallatin County messed up the election notice, the results couldn’t be counted or formally certified.

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That means the tax questions must go back to voters before marijuana businesses can start tacking the taxes onto their products.

“This is the exact same item that is being rerun because of an administrative error and that we do need to vote on that issue,” Gallatin County Clerk and Recorder Eric Semerad told KBZK.