COLUMBIA – The Boone County Commission wants to form an exploratory committee to decide whether a proposed use tax should be voted on by Boone County residents. The committee would likely include a couple of representatives from various Boone County cities.
A use tax would add an additional charge to goods purchased by Missouri residents out of state. The idea is for the tax to make up for sales tax revenue being lost on transactions with out-of-state vendors, most of which occur over the Internet.
It's been several years since the use tax was seriously considered in Boone County. It failed by about 16 percent of votes in 1996 and by about 13 percent in 1998. However, the economic climate was much different at that time than it is now.
The state of Missouri already charges a use tax to those who spend more than $2,000 on out-of-state purchases, and rules stipulate use taxes must equal local sales taxes. But, despite small participation both times, voters twice disapproved of a use tax by a considerable margin.
Would you support a use tax being charged in Boone County, considering Missouri already enforces one? Are there better ways for the county to remedy lower sales tax revenue?