(From the City of Joplin)
Jef Frost and Tim Woodall announced today that a measure asking voters if the Local Sales Tax on Out-Of-State Vehicle purchases and purchases from non-Missouri licensed dealers should be discontinued will appear on the August 2, 2016 ballot. Frost and Woodall are co-chairmen of the citizens’ task force committee that reviewed this sales tax measure and its impact on Joplin businesses and the city’s finances.
After several recent meetings with City staff regarding this issue, the task force recommended to the Joplin City Council that this item be placed on the August ballot to help Joplin businesses affected by out-of-state purchases of motor vehicles and other titled property and prevent the loss of an existing source of revenue for the City.
A Missouri Supreme Court Case (Street vs. the Director of Revenue) in 2012, followed by subsequent state legislation (HB 184/SB 182/HB 2140) in 2013 and 2016, required that cities without a use tax (such as Joplin) must receive voter approval by November 2018 to continue sales tax collections on purchases of motor vehicles, trailers, boats and outboard motors from non-Missouri licensed dealers, including out-of-state dealers.
Joplin citizens currently pay city sales tax on vehicles bought in another state when they license the vehicle. Those tax revenues are used by the city to help pay for services such as police and fire protection, street repairs, and park improvements. If continuation of the sales tax collection on these purchases is not approved by the voters by November 2018, the city will no longer receive this source of revenue to help pay for these services.
Missouri auto dealers are at a competitive disadvantage to out-of-state businesses should the tax be discontinued. This is because the out-of-state auto dealers would not have to charge a city sales tax on vehicle purchases when a local business does, so the total out of pocket costs for a new vehicle could be less. Keeping those sales local would not only help local businesses who create local jobs and reinvest in the community, it would also maintain an existing tax that provides substantial funding for City programs and services for citizens.
The projected loss of revenues to the City of Joplin is $430,000 to $500,000 each year, according to the Missouri Department of Revenue.
The sales tax in question, at a rate of 2.625%, only applies to those who purchase a motor vehicle, trailer, boat or outboard motor from out-of-state or from other than a licensed Missouri dealer. Similar purchases made from licensed dealers in-state are subject to the local sales tax regardless of the vote on this ballot question.
The Citizens Task Force Committee includes Frost, Woodall, Matt Alcorn, Amber Duncan, Brad Hodson, Drew Kimble, Karen Plott, and Jeff Starkweather. City staff working with the committee are Sam Anselm, Leslie Haase, A.J. Whistler, Dan Pekarek, Lynn Onstot and Brian Kelly.
More information about the issue will be posted on the City’s website, www.joplinmo.org as the August election approaches.
To view program about Prop A....
The city is able to word this differently to not sound like a tax increase. This tax was ruled unconstitutional and has been defeated by the voters once already. The state created this deadline date for a vote and thus allowed the cities to continue to collect the tax even though we voted it down. Now, the ballot will be re-worded to sound like we are voting to simply continue an existing tax. That is not the whole story. The police have there own specific sales tax source, so I am tired of hearing how they will suffer if this is not passed. With all the money the city has wasted, and the shenanigans pulled I urge all to refute this latest attempt at extortion and vote it down. I assure you, we can get by fine with a few less police vehicles.
ReplyDelete