Area shoppers to benefit from sales-tax holiday

Shoppers in Southeast Missouri will benefit from a sales-tax break in August on various back-to-school purchases, but consumers in Cape Girardeau County and Jackson will get a bigger break than those in Cape Girardeau.

The state’s annual tax-free weekend, set for Aug. 5 through 7 this year, exempts certain purchases from the state’s 4.225 percent sales tax.

It also allows counties and cities to decide whether to nix local sales taxes during the same period.

Computers, school supplies and clothing are among the items that qualify for the tax break.

The Cape Girardeau County Commission agreed Thursday to eliminate the 1 percent county sales tax on such purchases as part of the tax holiday.

The county participates in the tax holiday each year.

County Treasurer Roger Hudson said the tax break could cost the county $20,000 to $30,000 in revenue.

Still, he said the tax break doesn’t apply to meals and many other items.

“You don’t get the tax break on everything, so it may be a wash,” he said.

Shoppers may end up eating out and spending additional money on non-tax-break purchases while taking advantage of back-to-school sales, he explained.

As a result, the county may break even on revenue that weekend, Hudson said.

“It is a great opportunity to give taxpayers a break,” said Presiding Commissioner Clint Tracy.

The city of Jackson will waive its 2 percent sales tax during that August weekend as it has in previous years.

Jackson Mayor Dwain Hahs said city officials don’t look at the tax break as a revenue loss, but rather as a community service.

The tax break lowers the cost of back-to-school purchases, helping businesses that sell such items and the families that buy them, Hahs said.

The city of Cape Girardeau is not participating in the tax holiday, city manager Scott Meyer said.

Past city councils have had an on-again, off-again relationship with the state tax holiday that was enacted in 2005.

The city initially participated in the holiday but quit doing so in 2009.

In 2013, the council unanimously voted to bring back the tax holiday. But in 2015, the council again decided to opt out of giving shoppers an added tax break.

City finance director John Richbourg said eliminating the 2.75 percent city sales tax for the three-day weekend would have amounted to a loss of about $60,000.

This year’s city budget, recently approved by the council, envisions collecting that money.

Mayor Harry Rediger said the city needs to stick with its decision.

“We are just going to stay out,” he said.

Rediger said past councils frequently changed their mind on whether to participate in the tax holiday.

“It was not good for us, and it was not good for the merchants,” Rediger said.

He said consumers still will shop in Cape Girardeau without the added tax break.

Even with inclusion of the local sales tax, shoppers at Cape Girardeau stores will receive a tax break because of the elimination of state and county taxes on back-to-school purchases, city officials said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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