MAKE TAX HOLIDAY LESS LIKE DEALING WITH IRS

Everybody likes to save a couple of bucks -- especially hard-working Missouri parents -- but a complicated plan to have a few sales-tax-free days sounds more troublesome than filling out IRS tax forms.

A bill to that end, sponsored by state Sen. Peter Kinder of Cape Girardeau, is moving through the Legislature. It would suspend state and local taxes on the purchase of clothing and school supplies Aug. 4-7.

It would cost the state an estimated $6 million in lost state sales tax revenue and for the state to reimburse cities and counties for their lost revenue. Kinder is calling it a "little break" for working families. The timing is good -- just when parents are readying to send their tikes back to school wearing new clothes and loaded down with new backpacks, notebooks and pencils.

But the rules for taking advantage of the intended tax relief are hard to understand.

The tax break would apply only to school clothing with an retail value of $100 or less per item. And it would apply only to school supplies with a combined value of up to $50.

So if Mom wants to buy only expensive designer school clothes for her family, she can forget about tax-free days. Or if Dad has five kids and they all need more than $10 each in school supplies, he can forget about tax-free days.

Anyway, if a parent bought $50 worth of school supplies at a Cape Girardeau business, the tax savings would be a whopping $3.36. It would take several shopping trips to achieve any meaningful tax savings.

The bill also calls for another round of sales-tax-free days in August 2002, but local governments could choose to keep charging their sales taxes. If they didn't, they wouldn't be reimbursed by the state.

Apparently anticipating the confusion, a Democratic lawmaker tacked on an amendment. If retailers accidentally collect too much sales tax and then can't determine which customer should get a refund, the extra money will go to the state, not to the business owner.

Yes, state Sen. John Schneider of Florissant is predicting rampant overcharging on sales taxes during the intended tax holiday.

Before the bill moves any further, why not remove the complications and make it simple for parents? Just take the state tax off all school supplies and clothing for a day or two and be done with it.

Then everybody's happy: parents, business owners and politically savvy lawmakers who voted for the bill.