Council Cuts Marijuana Taxes by 25 %; Hints of More Reductions
Rick Langenberg
Don’t cut off the hand that hands you money.
And more importantly, allow us to remain competitive
These were some of the themes of a recent Cripple Creek City Council discussion on the final reading of an ordinance, calling for a reduction in local sales taxes levied on marijuana sales. By a unanimous vote, elected leaders, as expected, agreed to chop these taxes by 25 percent. At the same time, they suggested that more marijuana-related tax and fee reductions could be coming shortly.
Legal pot has always been a dicey subject in the gaming community, which became the first town in Teller County to legalize retail cannabis outlets on a limited basis.
Only one local business, the High Stakes Leafery, has entered the local marijuana arena for the sale of recreational and medicinal products. This occurred following a positive vote by the citizens of Cripple Creek and a lengthy regulatory process to finalize the rules
But the industry has taken a drastic change in the last year, with Colorado Springs voters opting to okay recreational sales for those businesses that currently offer medicinal pot. This has vastly impacted the market for shops in Manitou Springs and now Cripple Creek.
Although Cripple Creek will remain a town heavily dominated by gaming, retail marijuana has been touted as one way the community could diversify its offerings, and become less reliant on gambling for city revenue.
At its Dec. 3 council meeting, Laura Smith, the co-owner of High Stakes Leafery, pleaded with the council to allow the local industry to remain competitive. She noted that with the arrival of recreational marijuana sales in Colorado Springs, their business has taken a big plunge downward, a scenario further accelerated by higher taxes and fees than their new competitors. “It just tanked,” said Smith, when describing the impact of recreation marijuana sales in Colorado Springs, which started in the spring of 2025. “It was scary…We are losing people (customers).”
According to the High Stakes owner, their business has taken a 20 to 25 percent hit, with the addition of Colorado Springs retail pot. She said many of their regular customers are now purchasing recreational marijuana in Colorado Springs, as part of regular trips down the Pass.
She urged the council to keep the pot-related sales taxes more in line with those of Colorado Springs, set at 5 percent. The city now imposes a 12 percent sale tax on retail marijuana sales. According to its proposed ordinance, these would get reduced to 9 percent.
However, is this enough of a reduction to allow the local reefer market to remain viable?
Smith’s urgent pleas got much attention by the council members, who maintained that they want this industry to thrive. “We want them to be successful,” stated several elected leaders during the recent discussion. In a previous meeting, Mayor Annie Durham went further and noted, “I don’t want them to go out of business.”
If a slight reduction was set at 9 percent, most elected leaders threw out the idea of reviewing this situation every two months, and then proposing future tax reductions, if necessary.
City Administrator Frank Salvato, though, remined the council of the historic background surrounding the arrival of legal retail marijuana in Cripple Creek. He said this scenario stemmed from a workshop with gaming operators over the subject of increasing device fees, which had not been adjusted in three decades. At the recommendation of gaming operators, he stated that the city was advised to research the possibility of pursuing retail marijuana as a way to generate more revenue, instead of relying so much on the gaming industry.
This is exactly what happened, resulting in a ballot issue on the question of legalizing retail marijuana within the city limits of Cripple Creek in Nov. 2022. Voters said yes by a huge margin and also okayed the levying of taxes on the sales of retail cannabis The High Stakes Leafery, located off Hwy. 67, one block away from the downtown district, then opened its doors a little more than a year after this vote.
For some time prior to the opening of High Stakes Leafery, many visitors to the gaming community often asked, ‘Where is the local marijuana shop’? Legal cannabis retail outlets are common in both of Cripple Creek’s rival gaming towns, Central City and Black Hawk.
