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The state of Missouri will again play host to a summer holiday that most residents should find appealing. The annual “Back-to-School Tax Holiday” will occur August 6-8. KSMU’s Ryan Welch has more.
The statewide sales tax holiday is effective on merchandise that is typically known as “back to school” products. These include clothing, conventional school supplies, and personal computers. Shoppers will not pay any state sales tax on those items.
Cities and counties do have the option to keep their own local sales taxes in effect. Director of Communications at the Missouri Department of Revenue Ted Farnen says the presence of local sales taxes will vary across the state on the holiday weekend.
“When the legislature approved the law, the cities and counties were concerned about how this might affect their tax revenues. And so, they asked the legislature to put in an item that said, ‘Let’s let the individual cities and counties and other sales tax-levying districts opt in or opt out.’ And they gave the cities and counties and other entities the ability to opt out of it if they wish,” Farnen said.
Shoppers in Springfield will still have to pay the city sales tax because revenues have been down the last few years. Mike Brothers is the spokesman for the City of Springfield. He says it didn’t make sense for Springfield to forego the city tax this year.
“The city is very, very dependent on sales tax revenues and we really try to capture what we can to keep the revenue flow steady. And if it’s something that the city council wants to do, they could look at that in the future,” Brothers said.
If a city or county is participating, the total amount saved from not paying sales taxes could be as high as eight or nine percent.
More information can be found on ksmu.org.
For KSMU News, I’m Ryan Welch.