Missouri bill can bring in revenue without increasing sales tax

The Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement is the main part of Senate Bill 105, which was pre-filed for 2017, and has been filed before for several years.

The bill was created to help the state collect sales and use taxes from purchases made online to out-of-state businesses.

Mike Sutherland, with the Missouri Budget Project, said that because people are buying more items online every year, local retailers and the state are losing more money.

Sutherland said this bill isn’t creating additional sales or use taxes. He said the state will simply be collecting the sales or use taxes they are supposed to be collecting.

Jerry Dowell, director of government affairs for the Columbia Chamber of Commerce, said that if the bill passes, Missouri, along with 24 other states, would have an agreement with about 3,000 businesses to name items the same and remit the sales and use taxes to the states.

Dowell said the state can’t collect the taxes from online purchases if the store is not in, or has ties with, Missouri. So if a resident in Columbia bought an item from Amazon, they most likely would not be paying a state sales tax.

Dowell said the common misconception of the bill is that it would create or add sales and use taxes, making people in Missouri pay more taxes on items online. He said that isn’t true.

To find out more information about the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement, visit the Missouri Budget Project website.