Use tax has third straight double-digit Cape Girardeau County increase

For the third consecutive month, Missouri Department of Revenue has posted sizable increases in use-tax revenue for Cape Girardeau County,

The county use tax is a levy on online and out-of-state transactions.

Voters in the cities of Cape Girardeau and Scott City have OK'd a use tax but Jackson has not enacted such a levy.

• In September, DOR remitted $353,242.14 to Cape Girardeau County in use tax, 41% more than was received in the same month a year ago.
• In August, an 85% increase year-to-year was noted, with $642,825.24 received.
• In July, a 127% hike from 2022 was seen, $383,610.83.

Overall, for the first nine months of 2023, $2,878,040.34 in use-tax monies have been received in Cape Girardeau County, representing a 23% increase from January through September 2022.

"A great portion (of revenue growth) is due to the Wayfair decision," said Roger Hudson, county treasurer, referring to a June 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling eliminating the requirement that a seller must have a physical presence in a state in order for appropriate taxes to be collected and remitted to states such as Missouri.

South Dakota v. Wayfair, according to taxfoundation.org, expanded a state's ability to collect sales and use taxes from e-commerce sites and through other remote transactions.

"Marketplace facilitators who sell things through Amazon and Wayfair, for instance, are remitting now, and they weren't before," Hudson added.

Hudson said effective Jan. 1, the state began collecting use tax from non-NEXUS vendors, referring to companies without a physical presence in Missouri.

"This is just a guess, but in looking at the use tax spreadsheets, there was a lot of red early on in the year (and) I just think some of this (increase) is catch-up from the Department of Revenue," he said.

Cape Girardeau County dedicates its use-tax revenue for the county's justice center in Jackson, which opened in 2020.

Other tax receipts

• General Revenue — $788,120 was remitted by DOR to Cape Girardeau County in September, a 4.7% drop from September 2022. The figure marks the second straight month of year-to-year declines. In August, the general revenue fund witnessed an 11.6% slump from the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, however, the county is still raking in a bit more in general revenue. Through September, DOR has remitted $6,975,466.47, 1.4% better than the first nine months of 2022.
• Law Enforcement Sales Tax — levy approved by county voters in June 2020 and earmarked for the county sheriff's office saw September receipts fall to $787,438.78, down 4.8% from September 2022. By contrast, year-to-date, the tax has brought in $6,957,273.58, a 2.5% increase from January through September 2022.
• Proposition One — designated for county road and bridge improvements and OK'd by county voters in August 2006, the tax brought in $788,120.49 in September, a 4.7% decrease from the same month last year.