MOVE AIMS TO MAKE CITY TAX FAIRER

The Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau is seeking corrective action in recommending that the City Council revise the city ordinance that imposes a 1 percent restaurant tax on most meal-serving businesses to include all businesses that currently don't come under the law.

When the city's hotel and motel tax was adopted 13 years ago, the restaurant tax excluded a number of food-serving establishments. It was never fair that one place that served food had to collect and pay the tax, while another -- although not a full-scale restaurant -- didn't.

The bureau realizes the inequity and, although somewhat late, wants to do something about it. It has recommended the council expand the tax and that the motel tax also be broadened in the interest of fairness to include bed-and-breakfasts, which didn't exist when the ordinance was adopted.

Apparently, it won't be as simple as a vote of the City Council. The city attorney has advised that because of tax limitations under the state's tax-limiting Hancock Amendment, Cape Girardeau voters -- not the City Council -- must decide whether to broaden the tax.

If that is the case, the council should call an election and let the voters decide whether to expand the tax. It is the fair thing to do.