Pilot would route some local sales taxes to buyers’ counties

The pilot would collect local sales taxes on certain purchases and send the money to the purchaser’s county. The pilot would cover residents of the seven types of purchaser’s counties listed in the bill who buy goods from qualifying sellers in the three types of seller’s counties. A seller must have at least $12 million in annual in-state sales of goods. The purchase must be made by a resident of a purchaser’s county from a seller in a seller’s county, and the good must be subject to local sales tax there. One percent of the collected revenue, after surety bond premiums, would be set aside for collection costs and deposited in state general revenue. The pilot would expire six years after this section takes effect. The state would distribute each month’s collected revenue to counties by the tenth day of the following month.

A county receiving money would use it first to replace money lost from reducing or eliminating veterans’ residential property taxes, then to lower eligible seniors’ residential property taxes. These spending rules would apply to counties receiving pilot money and to taxes on residential real property. Veterans must be Missouri residents who were separated under honorable conditions from qualifying military service. After the veterans’ use, remaining money would cover up to 30 percent of residential property taxes for county residents aged 65 or older in households earning no more than $90,000 a year. Any money still left would go to county general revenue. Counties receiving money would budget for its designated uses each July, beginning July 1 of the calendar year after this section takes effect.

The state revenue department would set transaction codes and procedures, collect the taxes, keep records, and distribute the money to counties. These procedures would apply to the state revenue department and sellers in the counties covered by the pilot. County officers and the public could inspect records of collections and distributions. The department’s procedures would tell sellers how to identify the right code for each customer, including at self-service checkouts. County funds would be kept in a separate trust fund; funds not needed for current spending could be invested. The department would distribute money collected during each month by the tenth day of the next month.