Anchorage Assembly members are proposing an April ballot measure to create a 5 percent tax on future retail marijuana sales.
Ernie Hall, chair of the Assembly's committee on marijuana regulation and taxation, said Friday the marijuana sales tax should cover the costs of enforcement and oversight when the state starts licensing marijuana businesses in May.
"We've got new expenses the city's got to cover," Hall said. "We've got to generate the revenue to be able to do it."
Hall added there will be a "learning curve" in taxing a fledgling industry. The proposal allows the city to increase taxes without going back to voters, but only once every two years and by a maximum of 2 percent, he said.
The tax would apply to all retail sales of marijuana and marijuana products, according to the proposal, but the Assembly could also adopt ordinances to create exemptions.
The pot tax could be one of two new sales taxes for Anchorage voters to consider in the upcoming April election. Assembly member Bill Evans has said he's separately working on a proposal for a general sales tax.
Unlike the general sales tax, the marijuana tax would fall outside the city's tax cap.
Other Alaska cities have already adopted marijuana sales taxes. Fairbanks voters supported a 5 percent tax in October; in Bethel, a 15 percent tax passed overwhelmingly.
The Anchorage marijuana tax proposal, which was drafted by the city's legal and revenue departments and released Thursday, next heads to the Assembly's budget and finance committee for approval. Hall said he expects the full Assembly to vote on it in early January so the measure can appear on the April ballot.
A simple majority of voters would be required to approve the tax, according to draft proposal, rather than the three-fifths required for a general sales tax.
Also on Thursday, the city clerk's office released the first working draft of licensing requirements for local marijuana businesses. The draft reflects the latest version of the state regulations, but city attorney Bill Falsey said Friday it does not yet contain formal recommendations for stricter rules at the local level.
Hall said his committee will soon debate licensing requirements and expects an Assembly vote in February. The state will start processing applications Feb. 24 to meet the May deadline for initial licensing decisions.