Scott County commissioners may put use tax on ballot again

BENTON, Mo. -- Scott County commissioners discussed during their regular meeting Tuesday asking voters once again to approve a use tax on vehicles purchased outside the state.

Commissioners said the county is again receiving money thanks to a bill signed by Gov. Jay Nixon in July that reinstated local vehicle taxes for the time being.

A January 2012 state Supreme Court ruling drew a distinction between sales taxes, which are collected from in-state retailers, and use taxes, which are levied on purchased items used in Missouri but bought from a retailer outside the state or from someone who does not run a business. Based on that ruling, counties and municipalities that did not have a voter-approved use tax in place had not been allowed to collect taxes on some car, truck and boat sales until the bill.

Presiding County Commissioner Jamie Burger said if voters do not approve a use tax by the end of 2016, the county will again have to stop collecting on out-of-state vehicle purchases.

Scott County voters already rejected a use tax once, in the April 2 election.

"We basically have a two-year window to get a use tax passed by local voters," he said. "So we are debating it amongst ourselves, discussing the pros and cons."

"We don't feel like a lot of people understood it," Dennis Ziegenhorn, county commissioner, said of the last attempt at getting the use tax approved. "I think it's an initiative that supports local business. When our children or our grandkids or local civic clubs sell raffle tickets for chili day dinners and other fundraisers, we don't run to a car business in Southern Illinois and ask them to buy raffle tickets."

"Why would we want to give any business in a neighboring state an advantage over our local businesses?" Burger said. "We will kind of ponder it, talk about it again on Thursday and then decide on Tuesday."