Laclede County to go to the voters for a use tax

As brick and mortar retail stores are finding it hard to compete with online retail so do local government entities, as they don’t receive the much-needed sales tax, to fund city and county services. As now sales tax for Laclede County is down 83-thousand-dollars compared to last year at this same time. On April 7th voters in Laclede County will be asked to approve a use tax for online purchases. Laclede County Presiding Commissioner, Randy Angst says, he has taken a look at the past three years of sales tax collection and numbers are concerning:

Angst says, there has been a lot of confusion about the use tax and between now and April 7th he says, he will be happy to meet with individuals, groups, and organizations to explain the use tax that will be on the ballot:

Angst says the use tax on an item bought online would be the same as if you bought it a local retail store. He says it would just even the playing field for local governments.