Florissant Prop 1 (Use Tax)
On Aug. 4 Primary Ballot

Only Applies to Out-of- State Purchases

A use tax is imposed on purchases outside Missouri which, if bought in Missouri, would ordinarily be subject to sales tax – but escape taxation because they are purchased out-of-state.
In order to enact a use tax, Mayor Tim Lowery and Florissant City Council have placed Prop 1 on the August 4th ballot for Florissant voters to consider.
By law, the use tax rate mirrors the sales tax rate – 2.25% – and is not a “double tax”. The use tax would only apply on out-of-state purchases where no sales tax was charged. If you pay the sales tax, you don’t pay the use tax, and visa-versa. A consumer never pays both.
For the individual citizen, use tax only applies to purchases of $2,000 or more annually from out-of-state vendors – such as catalogue purchases, or those who travel out-of-state to make tax-free purchases and have goods shipped back to Florissant. If the out-of-state purchase is charged sales tax (which most out-of-state purchases are), then no use taxes are paid.
Currently Florissant businesses are at a competitive disadvantage with out-of-state businesses who don’t charge sales tax. Out-of-state businesses don’t create local jobs or reinvest in our community like Florissant’s brick and mortar businesses. Use taxes level the playing field for local businesses, who otherwise find themselves at a disadvantage against out-of-state competitors. While any consumer is welcome to shop across state lines at any time, no tax system should provide an incentive for consumer mass-exodus to shop in other states.
The problem is prevalent-enough that many Missouri cities and counties have enacted uses taxes to close this loophole. The use tax is fairly common; particularly in this age where commerce is becoming more worldwide, increasing the number of purchases not subject to local tax. Cumulatively, this tax loophole increasingly hurts the local economy, local businesses, and local jobs.A use tax levels the playing field by eliminating an unfair tax advantage enjoyed by out-of-state businesses over local businesses. Use tax requires goods purchased outside Missouri, without sales taxes paid, to instead pay a use tax – in the same amount as sales tax.
Passage of a use tax would close a significant tax loophole, level the playing-field for local businesses, eliminate an unfair incentive to buy tax-free goods and services outside Missouri, and help retain jobs. This is why the Mayor and City Council placed the use tax – Prop 1 on the August 4 ballot.

Instances Where Use Tax Won’t Apply

The following are some examples of where use tax would, and would not apply:
Use tax in Missouri is only charged on out-of-state purchases where (i) no sales tax is charged and (ii) sales tax would have been charged if the goods had been bought in Missouri. Essentially, it’s a mechanism to replace sales tax on non-Missouri purchases that escape taxation, designed to prevent this tax loophole from artificially drawing thousands of consumers across state lines to shop,• A Florissant resident purchases a microwave oven (or hamburger, or refrigerator, etc.) in Alton, IL. Since the resident pays sales tax at the cash register, use tax doesn’t apply.
• A Florissant resident has a doctor’s appointment in Collinsville, IL, and that medical bill omits sales tax. Since a doctor’s appointment in Missouri wouldn’t require payment of sales tax, the Collinsville appointment isn’t subject to use tax.
• A Florissant resident purchases new countertop from a manufacturer in Fort Madison, IA and pays no sales tax. Here, the resident would be required to pay use tax, because the same purchase, if made in Missouri, would require a sales tax.

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