Columbia City Council adds use tax to April ballot

EDITOR'S NOTE: The tax would apply to purchases made outside the state.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Columbia City Council voted Monday to put a tax on sales outside the state on the April ballot.

The tax is an effort to collect revenue from online sales and those made outside Missouri for products used here. Supporters say it will level the playing field for local brick-and-mortar sales which include must include taxes in their sales.

Currently, when a person living in Columbia purchases an item at a retail store located in Columbia they pay a state and local sales tax on the purchase. If the same person purchases outside of city limits or over the internet, the vendor is not required to collect the same local tax.

The use tax would ensure that purchases made outside of Missouri would be subject to the same tax rates as purchases made from Columbia businesses.

The tax rate on outside the city purchases would be 2%, which is the same as the local sales tax rate.