Personal property tax forms filed on honor system

Missourians are on their honor when it comes to personal property tax forms that list everything from cars to cattle and farm machinery to mobile homes.

County assessors don't check on how many cows and chickens a farmer might have or the number of computers and other equipment in a business.

Computers should be listed only if they are used for business purposes, said Jerry Reynolds, Cape Girardeau County assessor. But determining if an in-home computer is being used for business is an impossible task, he said.

"Personal property is so screwed up in this state," said Reynolds. "There is no way to audit it."

The State Tax Commission has repeatedly suggested eliminating personal property tax because it's difficult to determine the accuracy of the assessment forms turned in by taxpayers.

But Reynolds said that won't fly unless there's a way to replace the revenue that school districts and other local governments would lose from eliminating the personal property tax.

"There's a big problem with doing away with it," he said. "It brings in about 30 percent of all the property taxes."

Personal property taxes totaled $9.7 million on the 2001 tax bills that were due at year's end or about 27 percent of the $37 million in total property taxes owed. Taxes on real estate generated the other 73 percent.

Said Reynolds, "Until there is something better, we have to keep it."

Would shift the burden

Randy Turley, chief counsel for the State Tax Commission, said lawmakers haven't embraced the idea of wiping out the tax. "How do you replace that? You shift the burden somewhere else and nobody has been able to figure that out," he said.

The assessment forms are mailed to county taxpayers each January. Reynolds' office recently mailed out 30,000 assessment forms.

Each county mails out its own assessment form, but that form must annually be approved by the State Tax Commission.

Cape Girardeau County's is similar to many others in the state.

Bob Epperson, manager of technical assistance for the tax commission, said state law requires county assessors to record numbers on various livestock such as horses and cattle. At the insistence of the tax commission, there's even a category for exotic animals.

But neither counties nor the state check the numbers. "It basically is an honor system," said Epperson.

Violators face having their assessment on livestock or other listed items doubled, but that still depends on finding the violations in the first place.

There's also a penalty of up to $100 for not filling out and returning the assessment form. The form sent to Cape Girardeau County taxpayers lists the deadline as March 1.

But Reynolds said a different state statute extends the deadline to May 1, meaning that taxpayers have nearly four months to fill out the form without any penalty. After May 1, the penalty is added to the individual's next tax bill.

Need receipt for vehicles

For most Missourians, their licensed cars, pickups, boats and other vehicles are their only taxable personal property.

Reynolds said people will list their vehicles because they must have a receipt showing they paid their annual property tax in order to get a new license plate sticker from the license bureau.

In 2001, the assessed valuation of personal property in Cape Girardeau County totaled $205 million. Licensed vehicles -- 66,758 in all -- accounted for nearly 60 percent or $121 million of that total, county documents show.

Mobile homes, which also are easy to keep tabs on, were valued at $2.15 million last year. Cape Girardeau County has 1,189 mobile homes on the personal property tax rolls.

They're considered personal property if they are on rented land or in a mobile home park, Reynolds said

Livestock, in contrast, was valued at $1.37 million. Farm machinery was valued at $1.72 million.

Agricultural crops, which by state law is assessed at half a percent, were valued at only $8,201.

Most crops have been harvested and sold before Jan. 1, leaving few bushels to report on assessment forms. Property taxes, both real estate and personal, are based on what people owned on Jan. 1 of each year.

Reynolds said so little tax money is generated from crop assessments that it's not worth keeping track of it.

'What's a chicken worth?'

The same holds true for chickens. The county listed only 50 chickens and other poultry on the tax rolls last year and valued the birds at a combined total of $5.

"It's damn hard to find chickens in this county," said Reynolds. Cape Girardeau County doesn't have large poultry farms.

Reynolds said the few chickens in the county aren't worth counting. "What's a chicken worth? It isn't worth messing with," he said.

The county was home to over 25,000 head of cattle last year, according to assessment lists. Gerald Bryan, an agricultural expert with the University of Missouri Extension, believes that to be an accurate number.

Likewise, the fact that only 110 sheep and goats were listed on the tax rolls for 2001.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123