Mid Rivers Newsmagazine 2-7-24

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10 I NEWS I February 7, 2024 MID RIVERS NEWSMAGAZINE Missouri lawmakers look to repeal sales tax on food; municipalities prepare to fight By SHWETHA SUNDARRAJAN A new year means a renewed effort by Missouri’s politicians to push forward another bill to eliminate the sales tax on food items – the third such attempt in as many years. Missouri lawmakers have filed six House bills for the current legislative session of the General Assembly, which aim to eliminate the sales and use taxes on food, beginning in January 2025. Two bills also have been put forth by state senators. Those propose to eliminate the state sales on food, now at 1.225%, which supports the Missouri School District Trust Fund. Monies from the fund are distributed monthly to schools statewide to be used at their discretion. The distribution is determined using a weighted daily average attendance formula. The bills For the purpose of those bills, food includes only those products and types of food for which food stamps (SNAP benefits) may be redeemed. House Bill 2401, filed by Rep. Crystal Quade (D-District 132), differs from the other four House bills in that it would reduce state and local sales taxes and use taxes on food at 1.5% of the rate imposed in the base year of 2025 until those taxes reach zero. Quade represents Greene County. House Bill 1418 filed by Rep. Robert Sauls (D-021) and House Bill 1464 filed by Rep. Chris Sander (R-District 033) also seeks to eliminate the state sales or use tax, and local sales and use tax on the retail sale of food. Sauls and Sander represent districts within Jackson County, which is located in the western portion of the state and borders Kansas. In 2022, Kansas passed legislation to be enacted in three phases. Phase 1 began in January 2023, dropping the state sales tax on groceries from 6.5% to 4%. This year, the tax will drop an additional 2% on food, food ingredients and certain prepared foods. Phase 3 will see the tax reach zero on Jan. 1, 2025. St. Charles Rep. Adam Schnelting (R-District 69) says his bill (House Bill 2174) differs from the other similar pieces of legislation in that it leaves the municipal taxes in place. “So my bill actually doesn’t address the municipality,” Schnelting explained. “It doesn’t repeal the sales tax for municipalities that they place on food, this is just the state portion.” That’s not the case for House Bills 2055 and 2273 filed by Rep. Ben Keathley (R-District 101) and Rep. Chris Dinkins (R-District 144), respectively, which would repeal local sales and use taxes on retail food purchases in equal increments over a period of four years, resulting in a zero food tax by Jan. 1, 2029. Keathley represents Chesterfield, while Dinkins represents the counties of Wayne, Shannon, Madison, Reynolds, Iron, Washington and Bollinger. Missouri senators Mary Elizabeth Coleman (R-District 22) and Holly Thompson Rehder (R-District 27) also have filed bills that would eliminate the state food tax, beginning Jan. 1, 2025, and in four equal reductions, eliminate local sales and use taxes on food, culminating in zero on Jan. 1, 2029. Coleman represents Arnold and parts of Jefferson County, while Rehder represents the counties of Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Iron, Madison, Perry, Reynolds and Scott. In 2023, a similar bill filed by Coleman went the furthest in the legislative process but still fell short of passage. In a Senate hearing in February 2023, Coleman declared food as a necessity. “And I find @MIDRIVERS_NEWS MIDRIVERSNEWSMAGAZINE.COM (Adobe Stock photo) taxes that are essential items are some of the most regressive, harming the poor, and not the way to fund our state government,” she said. Schnelting shares that concern. “The point of the legislation is to ensure that folks who really feel the pinch right now – and a lot of Americans, a lot of Missourians, do feel the pinch of inflation – that we can try and reduce that (and) put money back in their pockets,” Schnelting said. However, municipalities statewide have See FOOD TAX, next page Confused about caucuses? Here’s what you need to know By KATE UPTERGROVE It’s been a while since Missouri held a caucus to determine who will be on the August Primary ballot for president. In recent years, the first step in determining the state’s presidential nominee has been a Presidential Preference Primary held in March. Not so this year. Legislation passed in 2022 did away with the open primary, which allowed voters to cast a ballot without declaring a party affiliation, to a closed system that has Republicans voting for Republicans and Democrats voting for Democrats. The Republicans will conduct their caucus in person, at 10 a.m. on March 2 at locations across the state. The Democrats will collect their votes by mail. Locally, the Republicans will caucus by Congressional District at: • 2nd Congressional District – Gymnasium B, Francis Howell Central High School, 5199 Hwy. N, Cottleville, MO 63304. • 3rd Congressional District – Gymnasium A, Francis Howell Central High School, 5199 Hwy. N, Cottleville, MO 63304. For those interested in learning more about the Republican Caucus, Bob Eno, chairman of the St. Charles County Republican Central Committee, will be the St. Charles County Pachyderm Club guest speaker on Friday, Feb. 2. Eno will discuss the upcoming presidential caucus and why voter participation is so important. The St. Charles County Pachyderms meet at noon at B. Halls, 3782 Monticello Plaza in O’Fallon. Lunches are open to all; registration is not needed. The Democratic Party will hold an inperson, party-run presidential preference primary election in every county on March 23. Votes may be cast in person from 8 a.m.-noon; however, the party had yet to identify polling places by press time. Mail-in ballots will be made available to registered Democrats beginning Feb. 12. They must be returned to the Missouri Democratic Party prior to March 23. Missouri residents can register to vote and check or declare their party affiliation on the Secretary of State’s website (sos. mo.gov). However, time is limited as party preference for Democrats must be declared prior to mid-February. Requests for mail-in ballots can be sent to the MDP (missouridems.org) from Feb. 1 through March 12. In a Jan. 14 interview with Marshall Griffin, of Show Me Today, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft said the main difference between caucuses and primaries is that “with an election, you walk in, prove your identity, get your ballot, fill it out and you’re done.” “With a caucus, it will be a longer process where you will be together with individuals at a caucus site,” Ashcroft said. “They will lock the doors at 10 a.m. and, as we used to say when we were out in the woods, the cussing and discussing starts. People actually have the opportunity to give speeches and say why Candidate A is better than Candidate B. “It’s a much more involved process of figuring out who’s best.” Ashcroft noted that the process, which he defined as “old-school democracy, civic participation,” can take a few hours up to a half-day, or more. Following the campaign terminations of Doug Burgum, Chris Christie, Tim Scott and Ron DeSantis, the remaining Republican candidates to be voted on at the caucus are Donald Trump, Nikki Haley and David Stuckenberg. While President Joe Biden is the expected presidential nominee; other candidates that could be on the presidential preference ballot are author Marianne Williamson in her second bid for the presidency and Minnesota Congressman Dean Phillips, Stephen P. Lyons, Armando Perez-Serrato and Jason Michael Palmer. The Missouri Libertarian party is hosting its caucus at its statewide conference on Feb. 24. The conference is at Holiday Inn Earth City and registration is open now on the party’s website (lmpo.org).
FACEBOOK.COM/MIDRIVERSNEWSMAGAZINE MIDRIVERSNEWSMAGAZINE.COM FOOD TAX, from previous voiced concern about local tax revenue losses and defeated the legislation in 2022 and 2023. This year, local municipalities are speaking out again. The cost On Jan. 25, the St. Peters Board of Aldermen passed a resolution opposing all legislation related to the elimination of local sales and use taxes on food. According to Mayor Len Pagano, sales tax collected on food makes up 6% of the city’s budget, all of which goes toward city services. “(When someone) says we need to cut taxes, I want to do this and that, I always ask them, ‘What services are we going to cut?’ Or better yet, ‘If you want to cut this, do you have a solution to make up for that lost revenue?’ That’s the question that’s never posed to the legislators or the senators,” Pagano said. “They have no recourse on that. “I’m the mayor, I would love to have everything free, but it ain’t gonna happen.” Pagano said the city of St. Peters would lose $7.8 million in annual tax revenue if the elimination of the local food tax comes to pass. That he said would “really take amenities away from the quality of life and the person that’s in the state of Missouri … nothing is free.” Pagano said St. Peters has no current plan to recover the lost revenue. That will come if and when legislation passes. But he is encouraging residents to contact their representatives. “[I’ve been] asking all residents to contact their state legislator or senator and ask them, ‘Why are you defunding our amenities?’ Because that’s what it is. The words defunding, truthfully, I’ve been told time and time again, that upsets them, but it’s true,” Pagano said. “When you got that kind of money going out, it’s defunding everything that we have in this city, and so that’s what I would encourage (residents) to do.” In neighboring St. Louis County, Manchester Mayor Mike Clement said his city is teaming up with Crestwood and Brentwood to hire a lobbyist to work against the passage of any legislation that would repeal the local food tax. Clement said those cities are not alone in their efforts. “Nearly every municipality adamantly opposes such a law,” he said. He pointed to new data that he said indicated a statewide impact of $1.65 billion. “Every single municipality and county and city in the state of Missouri would be very negatively impacted by this,” Clement said. February 7, 2024 MID RIVERS NEWSMAGAZINE I NEWS I 11 Serving the St. Charles Community 12 Month CD Special 5.25% APY* 15 Month CD ONE TIME BUMP UP 5.00% APY* 1700 O’Fallon Road 636.638.2585 mrvbanks.com *Annual Percentage Yield (APY) is accurate as of 01/22/2024. $1,000 minimum balance required to openan account and obtain the APY. A penalty may be imposed for early withdrawal and the rate may change after account opening. Fees could reduce earnings on the account. Sudoku brought to you by Faszold Heating & Cooling Complete the grid so that every row, column, and 3x3 box contains every digit from 1 to 9 inclusively. A NEW FURNACE FOR JUST $60/MONTH Go to www.Faszold.com for Sudoku answers! FOR FREE ESTIMATES, CALL 636-926-NEWS (6397) | WWW.FASZOLD.COM NOW AUTHORIZED DEALERS OF ®
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Mid Rivers Newsmagazine 2-7-24

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