REPORT FINDS FLAWS IN CITY TAX

Cape Girardeau's restaurant tax is not equitably enforced, says a report presented to the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau Advisory Board Wednesday afternoon.

"If Baskin Robbins isn't paying but TCBY is, then something is wrong," said Shirley Talley, who chairs a committee the board set up to study the tax.

The manager at the local Baskin Robbins wasn't available to comment Wednesday night.

The city levies a 1 percent tax on restaurant customers that is earmarked for the Convention and Visitors Fund. That fund is used to pay the bonds on the Show Me Center and promote tourism.

Talley presented a list of 13 restaurants that, according to city records, don't pay the tax on restaurant receipts. She said she derived the list from checking the city's business licenses with the list of businesses that pay the tax.

Rocky Brown, co-owner of the Bel Air Grill, one establishment on the list, said the restaurant paid the tax but it is listed on city records as Roc's Over and Under, the name of the restaurant he co-owns in Scott City.

Pizza Hut made the list, but it pays its tax under the name Pizza Cape.

Taste Restaurant and Lounge made the list. Jimmy Wilson, who answered the phone there, said: "I'm just holding down the fort until the owner comes back. This place hasn't cooked anything in years. It's just a bar now."

Two restaurant managers contacted said they may not pay the tax but knew nothing about it: Nate Browning of Ruby Tuesday and Doug Armour of Peppy's Sports Bar.

Browning said Ruby Tuesday would pay if he knew about the tax.

Armour said Peppy's has only just begun to serve food.

Talley said the list needs further study.

She said responsibility could lie with either the city or the restaurants.

The board unanimously voted to submit the report to City Manager Michael Miller for his study.

Unlike sales taxes which businesses pay to the state for distribution to the various subdivisions, the 1 percent restaurant tax is paid directly to city, said Doc Cain, owner of Port Cape Girardeau Restaurant and Lounge and a member of the committee.

He said the tax is too low to affect sales and is really a tax on customers and not restaurants.

The city code defines a restaurant as "any inn or establishment engaged solely or chiefly in the sale and serving of meals or lunches, where tables and chairs are provided for the customers."

The list provided included Target, a discount store with a snack bar. Asked why it was included, Talley said that Venture pays the tax.

Target and Venture both own their snack bars.

In addition, the committee listed other businesses that don't have to collect the tax but which the committee said the city should change the law to include. The list includes bookstores that have coffee shops, convenience stores, hospital cafeterias, bed and breakfasts and grocers that sell prepared food.

Talley said it isn't fair that a take-out order from a restaurant is taxed but a take-out order from a supermarket or an eatery that specializes in deliveries isn't.

Councilman Tom Neumeyer, owner of a bed-and-breakfast, attended the meeting. He said he favors extending the tax to businesses like his, but doing so would take a referendum.

Under the Missouri Constitution, voters must approve all new taxes before they go into effect.

Other restaurants listed as not collecting the tax were: Cafe Cape, Dave's Bar-B-Que II, Lacey's on the Hill, St. Louis Bread Company, Sonic Drive-In and Whitfield's Fine Dining.

None of their managers were available to comment Wednesday night.

RESTAURANTS NOT ON THE CITY REPORT

The following restaurants do not appear on the city's hotel/motel-restaurant billing report for April 9, 1997:

Baskin-Robbins 31 Flavor Ice Cream, Town Plaza Shopping Center

Bel Air Grill, 24 S. Spanish St.

Cafe Cape, Crossroads

Dave's Bar-B-Que II, 1865 Broadway

Lacey's on the Hill Restaurant, 1701 Lacey Street

Peppy's Sports Bar, 823 S. Kingshighway

Pizza Hut, 1703 Broadway 1703 Broadway

Pizza Hut, 215 S. Kingshighway

Ruby Tuesday Restaurant, 3609 Route K

St. Louis Bread Company, West Park Mall

Sonic Drive-in, 2126 Broadway

Target, 202 Siemers Drive

Taste Restaurant & Lounge, 402 Good Hope St.

Whitfield's Fine Dining, 220 Independence