I was out and about doing various things today, and over the course of those things, I voted. There was only one issue on the ballot in my county: a 1.25% Use Tax, applying sales tax to out-of-state purchases. In other words, making sure that people who buy from Amazon and their ilk have to pay their share to the county.
Except that the way the law is written, it doesn’t seem to apply to Amazon purchases so much at all, or at least the small ones. Theoretically, everyone is supposed to pay the tax. However, the only people required to keep track and file a Use Tax Return are those who spend more than $2,000 per year on out-of-state sources.
So it seems to be targeted more at people who buy boats, cars, and other expensive items from across state lines—or else really huge Amazon spenders, I suppose. Missouri already has a use tax at the state level; recent Missouri legislation (probably the same legislation that caused Amazon to dump the state from its affiliate program) gives counties a time limit on putting one of their own into effect. Several other counties have use taxes on the ballot as well.
Regardless, it’s going to be interesting to see how the voters decide the matter. Will they see this as a volley against Amazon, and vote in favor of their own pocketbooks? Or will they think it’s just meant to bite big spenders and approve it?
Update: The Use Tax proposal failed in Greene County by a margin of 12.10%, or about 1,800 votes. 56.05% of voters were against it, 43.95% for it, with voter turnout of 8.06%. Greene County officials said they would have to try to find another source of revenue or potentially cut services and potentially lay off employees. Greene joins a number of other counties who also voted against it.
