Tag: sales tax

Bipartisan Array of Bills from 13 House Members would Cut Taxes on Food, Diapers, or Feminine Hygiene Products

      Many House lawmakers think Missourians need a break in the taxes they pay to the state.  Thirteen House members, nearly evenly split across party lines, have proposed doing so by cutting taxes on necessary products, particularly diapers, feminine hygiene products, and food. 

      As the legislature enters the final few weeks of its session those bill sponsors are hoping their proposals will get some traction, perhaps as amendments to other proposals, or at least legislative hearings that could spur movement in future years.  

Representatives Crystal Quade, Adam Schnelting, Maggie Nurrenbern, Ben Keathley, Patty Lewis, Chris Sanders, Barbara Phifer, Justin Hicks, Robert Sauls, Chris Dinkins, Jo Doll, Wendy Hausman, and Mark Sharp all filed proposals for the 2024 legislative session that would reduce or eliminate sales taxes on one or more products that Missourians need, generally including food, diapers, or feminine hygiene products, or some combination of the three. (Photos: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

      None of these proposals have been referred to committees.

      Missouri is one of only 13 states in the nation that taxes food.  Three neighboring states do not tax food, and Kansas will join that number next year.  St. Charles Republican Adam Schnelting is one of the legislators proposing that Missouri do the same. 

      Schnelting said as inflation has skyrocketed in recent years, he has hoped that his idea would catch on amount his House colleagues. 

      “My own family, my daughter is 6 years old, my son is 18 months old, we have a growing family and we feel it in our own pocketbook.  I know I’ve got a lot of constituents and a lot of people back home that feel it in their pocketbook.  If people in my district have to live within their means then so does the government,” Schnelting said.  “My wife and I were spending almost $1,000 a month on food … every little bit helps and adds up.  If you’re talking several hundred dollars that can go toward over things, like diapers.”

      Lone Jack Republican Chris Sander said in districts such as his, which is near the border with Kansas, Missourians are taking advantage of the lower rates some neighboring states offer. 

      “Within a year or two it’ll be zero sales tax in Kansas on groceries, so if you live where I live, you can drive over the state line and get your groceries and forget [the taxes] in Missouri, and it’s then a free market competition issue, especially along anywhere on the western side of Missouri,” Sander said. 

      Robert Sauls (D-Independence) proposes exempting food not only from the state sales tax of 1.225 percent, but also from local sales and use taxes, which in some parts of the state drive the rate up to more than eight percent. 

      Sauls said, “Absolutely everybody needs food to survive.  In this particularly time, where inflation is still high, this is one of those things that I think we can actually impact the lives of people by simply taking away the tax on food.  Since Kansas has done it and many other states have done it I think it’s something that we should do as well.”

      Representative Chris Dinkins (R-Lesterville) said she and other legislators are seeing more and more of their constituents struggling, and they want to help.   

      “I think we’re always looking at ways to help the citizens of Missouri,” Dinkins said.  “When you look at people’s income status, you find that your lowest income people spend the largest percentage of their income on food, so they are the ones that’s most impacted by the sales tax.  They spend around 30 percent or more of their income on food, whereas your middle income people only spend a little over 10 percent, so we’re impacting the people that need it the most, and we’re trying to help those that need it the most.”

      Missouri taxes diapers and feminine hygiene products at 4.225 percent.  Several neighboring states tax those products at a greater rate, but three don’t tax feminine hygiene products at all and one does not tax diapers. 

      The 4.225 percent rate is often called a “luxury” tax, as it is applied to items that are deemed non-essential.  That doesn’t sit well with many lawmakers, including Representative Mark Sharp (D-Kansas City, who proposes taxing such items at the lesser 1.225 percent.

      “They should not be taxed at a luxury rate … so reducing them down to a food sales tax, I believe, is the very least that we can do,” said Sharp.  “Many states have gone as far as just removing the tax altogether, so we have to something to at least move the needle.”

      Others, like Republican Wendy Hausman (St. Peters) want to take the extra step of eliminating the state sales tax on those items, altogether.      

      “I think it’s important because these are not luxury items but they’re sort of treated like luxury items.  You must have them, obviously.”

      Hausman, who is in her second year as a freshman legislator, said the idea was brought to her by fellow members of a businesswomen’s group, Little Black Book. 

      “These are women who, many of them, do very well, but they’re thinking about the women who have come before them, or how they were before they got in the position that they are [in] today, and I think that’s also a reflection of our community … let’s come together and let’s help other women.  I think that was the reason I like this bill so much.”

      “We want to make sure that we’re supporting Missouri families by making it easier for them, especially in a day and age where they try to tax you and gouge you everywhere.  We need to figure out ways to try to give people and families relief,” said Lake St. Louis Republican Representative Justin Hicks.  “We all know that females need feminine hygiene products, that’s a given, and with people having kids out there we all know that diapers are usually a major expense to a family.”

      Many legislators and advocates point out that difficulty affording or providing necessary products has a ripple effect, contributing to issues with both mental and physical health. 

      “From a parent’s perspective, not being able to provide an essential item for their baby [such as diapers] has a mental toll, so it impacts their mental aspect.  Also [as] a workforce issue, on average, parents in diaper need miss 5.1 days of work a month because they can’t afford diapers to send to child care with their child, so this is a workforce issue,” said Representative Patty Lewis (D-Kansas City).  “Then not to forget the physical health aspect that it has on a baby, sitting in saturated diapers hours after hours.  From UTIs to diaper rash, sometimes if they’re not cured with over-the-counter medicine they have to go to the physician or the pediatrician, so additional time off work for the parents and additional cost for the parents as well, and then there can be long-term effects, from renal failure or renal insufficiency, for these babies.”

      St. Louis Democrat Barbara Phifer points out, “Period products, especially, are very intimate and personal.  If you think about young girls who are going through puberty, and if they don’t have access to those products, their school participation drops dramatically.”

      Phifer adds, “Over the age of 65 there are many, many, many Missourians that are reliant on adult diapers, and they’re expensive.  What happens is people wear them too long and … when people, their skin, is exposed to the acids … people get lesions, they get infections, and they die.”

      Opposition to these ideas in past years has come from local governments, who say cutting taxes on these products jeopardizes services they provide, such as emergency responders. 

      “I think that kind of deterred it,” said St. Louis Democrat Jo Doll.  “Hopefully this year we can finally get [the tax cut on diapers and feminine hygiene products] across the finish line.  I think the biggest problem is that it always gets attached to something and whatever it’s attached to falls apart.” 

      “I’m hopeful, as always, and there’s so many people that file it, really on both sides of the aisle, that I’d think we could get it passed.  I am hopeful that this will be the year, but as always, you never know what’s going to happen, especially in an election year,” said Doll. 

      House Democrat leader Crystal Quade’s (Springfield) plan to cut taxes on food would let Missourians vote on a number of tax changes, including a tax on private planes and yachts, and create a fund in the state’s coffers to help local governments transition. 

      “Missourians are suffering right now when it comes to making ends meet, and it’s our job to come up with solutions that help everyone,” Quade said.  “It’s up to us to figure out ways to make up those losses and that shouldn’t be a burden on the regular taxpayer.”

      Representative Maggie Nurrenbern (D-Kansas City), who is in her fourth year on the House Budget Committee, said the state can afford to reduce these taxes. 

      “We’re looking at record budgets and we have a record surplus still in the state treasury.  What can we actually do to pass on cost savings to working families?” said Nurrenbern.  “I hate to see a mom standing in the line making that decision, ‘Do I buy this pack of diapers or that gallon of milk,’ and those are the decisions our families are faced with every single day, and it’s time now, to pass that savings on to families and cut the state portion of sales tax on essential items.”

      Chesterfield Republican Ben Keathley said the growth in support for these proposed sales tax cuts is a direct response to inflation hikes over the past several years. 

      “There’s not a whole lot we can do because we don’t impact monetary policy at any significant degree in the state of Missouri.  This is one part where we are actually raising the cost of goods by putting on sales tax,” said Keathley

      While 13 legislators contributed to this article, Keathley said more will get on board the longer such ideas are not passed.

      “I think it will continue to grow.  It’s reflective of the fact that this is becoming a real problem for people … for everybody throughout the state of Missouri, whether you’re urban, suburban, rural, everyone has to buy groceries.  Everyone has to buy these necessities … and I think you’ll see a growing number of [representatives] support it because a growing number of people in Missouri are needing this relief, desperately.”

Expired temp tags to phase out as vehicle dealers collect sales tax under new law

      Many Missourians will be pleased to know that expired temporary license tags on vehicles could soon become a thing of the past, under one of the bills signed into law earlier this month.

Representative Michael O’Donnell (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

      Those tags have, for some, been a source of anger and fodder for jokes.  Entire social media accounts have been dedicated to posting pictures of vehicles with tags that expired months or even years ago, and some openly ridicule law enforcement for not acting against drivers with outdated tags.  For others the issue has been a source of anxiety as they felt the scrutiny of peers and law enforcement while driving with them. 

      “It’s embarrassing,” said Representative Michael O’Donnell (R-St. Louis) of the system now in place in Missouri – the system that would be changed as part of Senate Bill 398.   “This [change] is long overdue … we’re only one of like three or four states that’s still doing it this way.”

      The “way” to which O’Donnell refers is the collection of sales taxes on vehicle purchases by the Department of Revenue, after the sale.  

      “We had this weird situation in Missouri where people would go buy a car and unlike anything else you buy you don’t pay the sales tax when you buy it,” explained Representative Peter Merideth (D-St. Louis).  “People get the best car they think they can afford.  Next thing they know they go to get their plates for it, they find out they owe $4,000 or $5,000, or even $1,000 or $500 if they got a cheap, used car, it’s a lot of money at once in order to get their plates, and they go, ‘Well I can’t afford that.’”

      O’Donnell was the House handler of the proposal that became part of SB 398 that will require auto dealers to collect sales tax at the time of a vehicle purchase. 

      “When [Missourians] go in to buy the car, the dealer’s going to bring it up.  ‘The sales tax on a vehicle is this.  Do you want to write a check for that or do you want to roll it into the financing?,’” said O’Donnell.

      While having dealers begin collecting taxes at the time of purchase sounds like a simple change, Merideth said it took several years for infrastructural changes that will allow it.

      “We’ve been saying for a long time that that’s the solution,” said Merideth, “and then the Department of Revenue would tell us, ‘We don’t have a technical system that can do that.’  What they told us is their computer systems that they were using were designed in the ‘80s when we barely had computers and hadn’t been updated.”

Representative Peter Merideth (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

      A series of legislative and budgetary changes – some of which, notes Merideth, did not have the bipartisan support that this portion of SB 398 had – have allowed for this bill to advance and O’Donnell describes it as the last step in a long process.  The new law becomes effective August 28but it allows several months for changes to Department of Revenue systems.  O’Donnell said it could be 12 to 24 months before those buying vehicles experience the new system.  

      Many legislators in recent years have said that this issue was among those about which they most often heard complaints from constituents, but they often learned that increasing enforcement against those with expired tags was only going to hurt those who were already financially struggling and would not end the problem.

      Merideth told House Communications, “This temp tag issue is the thing I have heard maybe second most from constituents about, second only to gun violence, of anything in my district.  It shocked me how upset people are about it, but I get it.  It feels like we have a situation where all these people are running around that aren’t paying their fair share of the taxes that the rest of us are paying.”

      “I’ve heard a lot of people say, ‘Well don’t buy the car if you can’t pay the taxes,’” said O’Donnell, but he, like Merideth and others, quickly learned that it wasn’t always that simple.  He said a series of reports by a television reporter illustrated the depth of the problem.  She talked to a number of Missourians who had expired temporary tags.

      “A lot of people had hardship problems,” O’Donnell learned.  “That was a lot of money to come up with, and she would ask the question, ‘If you were able to roll it into your financing and just pay $30 extra each month would that have been more doable,’ and people were like, ‘Oh my gosh, that would’ve been so much easier and so much less stressful.’”

      O’Donnell also learned how anxious many of those drivers were because of their expired tags.  “It wasn’t like it’s no big deal, nobody cares.  They were always nervous that they were going to get pulled over and get questioned about it … [this legislation] will reduce that stress of thinking that the eyes of the world are upon you because you’ve got this temp tag.”

      The end result was a much-needed change that lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle will be glad to talk about to their constituents.

      Said Merideth, “I’m tired of seeing the expired temp tags and I’m tired of, honestly, hearing from so many people about the expired temp tags.  It’s a frustrating problem and honestly I’m glad we’re finally going to collecting the revenue that we need to have and we’re going to do it in a way that people are going to know what they’re getting into when they buy their car.”

      O’Donnell said four or five years from now there might still be some stragglers out there, but most expired tags should disappear over the next couple of years.

Production note: due to a technical issue, the audio from Rep. Merideth was not of good quality. Those who wish to access it may contact House Communications.

House members push for lesser tax on feminine hygiene products, diapers

      Nine bills filed in the Missouri House would reduce or eliminate the taxes paid on diapers, and most of those would also apply to feminine hygiene products.  The bipartisan group of legislators backing them say such a change would help some among the Missourians who most need relief, especially during this period of increased inflation. 

Representative Maggie Nurrenbern (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

      The rate at which these products are taxed is sometimes referred to as a “luxury tax.”  That is the rate at which most products in Missouri are taxed.  Food is taxed at a decreased rate, and some of the proposals would set the levy on those products to that rate.  Others would make them exempt from the sales tax altogether.

      Several of the bills’ sponsors said there is no reason to keep taxing these things at the greater rate.

      “It’s ludicrous … these are not luxury items.  These are items that you need to exist and function in society, period,” said Kansas City Democrat Maggie Nurrenbern. 

      Similar bills have been offered for several years but have fallen short of becoming law.  Among their most fervent and consistent backers have been diaper banks.  Data released last year by the National Diaper Bank Network placed the annual cost of diapers at nearly $1,000 per infant.

“Over time for the average family, the average parent that’s buying diapers for their child over the course of the first three or four years that will add up,” said Representative Mark Sharp (D-Kansas City) of the tax on those diaper purchases.  “The least we can do at the state level is make sure that we’re taking care of the average person, the everyday person who’s just trying to make it and make sure that their child has adequate diapers [and we should] make sure that our older folks have the stuff they need as well.”

Representative Phil Christofanelli (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

      Republican Phil Christofanelli (R-St. Peters), sponsoring the proposal for the second straight year, said he thinks part of what has held it up in the past has been that it would significantly reduce revenue, particularly for local governments, “But I think this one’s important, particularly in our time of inflation, where the basic necessities for so many working families are incredibly high and we want to be a culture that encourages stable families and child rearing and a vibrant family culture and this is part of that, make sure that families can afford the necessities of raising kids.”

      Representative Peter Merideth (D-St. Louis) has for years sat on the House Budget Committee.  He said the state could afford this change.

“I do think that we can make it work with lowering the food tax and that the impact it will have on people is worth it, regardless.  If it means we have to adjust revenue elsewhere to make up for it I would support that too.”

      Merideth’s version of the bill would extend such changes to other necessities, such as, “Toothpaste, deodorant, soap, shampoo, but I do exempt sort of luxury cosmetic-type products.  So I think, again, the basic necessities, people just shouldn’t be paying taxes on them.”

Representative Peter Merideth (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

      In addition to this issue, St. Louis Representative Jo Doll (D) also proposes in House Bill 408 that public charter, middle- and high schools provide feminine hygiene products free to students.  She said that wouldn’t just be for students who can’t afford them, it’s about the mental health of young girls dealing with what might still be a new experience.

      “You might have them in your bathroom at home and all of a sudden you’re at school and you need one and you don’t want to have to go ask your math teacher, or the nurse, even, for a tampon.  There’s a huge mental health factor in just security that you always have those products available.”

      Regarding those who struggle to afford those products, Doll said, “We know that girls who can’t afford feminine hygiene products don’t go to school during that time and so this would just give them access to products that they may not be able to afford.”

Representative Jo Doll (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

      She adds, “They’re not optional and the lack of being able to afford them causes all kinds of issues for, whether it’s working mothers or school age girls.”

      The House sponsors and co-sponsors of those bills include a bipartisan group of 12 Democrats and four Republicans.  None of those bills have been referred to a committee.

      In the Senate three such measures have been filed.  Two of those, filed by Republicans, have been approved by a committee in that chamber.

The bills that have been filed are:

HB 114 (Sharp), HB 126 (Nurrenburn), HB 145 (Doll), HB 290 (Patty Lewis), HB 351 (Christofanelli), HB 381 (Rasheen Aldridge, Jr.), HB 744 (Stephanie Hein), HB 1053 (Barbara Phifer), and HB 1136 (Merideth)

Rep. Doll’s legislation to require schools to provide feminine hygiene products to students at no cost is HB 408.

Legislature votes to strengthen Kansas City’s shot at World Cup

      The Missouri legislature has offered an assist to Kansas City’s bid at bringing the World Cup to Kansas City, and with it, hundreds of millions of dollars to the state’s economy. 

Representative Jonathan Patterson (Photo credit: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

      “It’s estimated that it would bring $750-million to the state.  You’re going to need 50,000 hotel rooms.  [Fans] are going to come from all over the world and get to see all of Missouri.  They’re going to travel within Missouri and the country,” said Representative Jonathan Patterson (R-Lees Summit).  “100-million people watch the Super Bowl.  One billion people will watch the World Cup, so this is equivalent to 7 to ten Super Bowls.”

      The House and Senate passed legislation that would exempt tickets to the 2026 World Cup from sales taxes if it is held in Kansas City, which is one of 22 cities among 16 potential host sites vying for the event. 

      Patterson, who has spearheaded the effort in the House to get this legislation passed, said FIFA (the International Federation of Association Football) stipulated that whatever state hosts the World Cup not charge sales tax on their tickets.  He said Missouri would be the first state to meet that requirement, assuming Governor Mike Parson (R) signs into law House Bill 1606 and/or Senate Bill 652, both of which were sent to him last week. 

Legislators say the measure is a priority for the governor.

      “So we are going to be first in the organizers’ minds about states that have filled out a criteria that they wanted to meet before awarding a host site,” said Patterson.  “So I think with [these bills] we put ourselves in a very good position to get a host site.”

      Representative Wes Rogers (D-Kansas City) said this legislation was in no way just about Kansas City.

Representative Wes Rogers (Photo credit: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

      “People from as far away as the Lake [of the Ozarks] will need to provide housing.  There’s not enough housing in [Kansas City] and there won’t be.  You’re talking about people staying in Columbia, probably even Jefferson City and the Lake, so it’s statewide economic impact,” said Rogers.  “And they’re going to be here for a month, too, and there’s only a few soccer games, so they’re going to be going back and forth from Kansas City to St. Louis, and they’re going to go down to Springfield, and they’re going to see what else is around.  It’s not just the games, it’s also everything people are going to do while they’re here.”

      Rogers is quick to note that while the legislation would exempt taxes on the tickets, it will not exempt taxes on all the other places people will spend money while attending the World Cup. 

“For every hotel room, for every meal that they eat, for any time they go to the convenience store they’re going to be paying a lot of taxes, just not on the tickets themselves.”

      Both representatives say Kansas City is a great sports town with impressive facilities to go with good food and other draws, and they would hold it up against the other potential host sites.

      “I think this would put it on the map and really showcase it to the world,” said Patterson.  “I think with [these bills] we put ourselves in a very good position to get a host site.”

      The proposed exemption has broad bipartisan support.  The House vote on SB 652, which included only that language, was 141-5.  That bill and HB 1606 are awaiting action by Governor Parson.