MISSOURI REALTORS® OPPOSE LEGISLATION REVERSING 2016 BAN ON TAXING SERVICES: A Senate proposal to repeal 2016’s REALTORS®-spearheaded constitutional consumer protections is heading to the full Senate after being endorsed for passage in committee last week.
The Senate Economic Development and Workforce Committee voted do-pass on Senate Joint Resolution 31, sponsored by Sen. Ben Brown, R-Washington. Missouri REALTORS® provided testimony opposing the measure on several grounds:
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REALTORS® proposed and voters statewide approved 2016’s Amendment 4 to the Missouri Constitution, banning sales taxes on services our people use every day, from haircuts to vehicle repairs. The people have spoken, and voters have shown no new enthusiasm for raising new taxes, as SJR31 would be subject to a statewide vote.
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If SJR31’s supporters are wrong about its effects and there is a serious funding shortfall, the constitutional problem cannot be fixed without another vote of the people – who, it bears repeating, have not indicated their support for raising new taxes.
“Adding new taxes to services Missourians use every day is not sound policy and it unfairly impacts those least able to pay,” Bobbi Howe, Missouri REALTORS® President, said in a statement to reporters. “Missouri REALTORS® opposes repealing or weakening the consumer protections we proposed and which voters added to the Missouri Constitution in 2016.”
The Missouri Independent reported SJR31 “does repeal a 2016 initiative, placed on the ballot by Missouri REALTORS®, that barred lawmakers from imposing state sales tax on any market transaction ‘that was not subject to sales, use or similar transaction-based tax on January 1, 2015.’
“Along with preventing any effort to tax services such as mechanic’s labor or tax accounting, the amendment protected from repeal exemptions to the sales tax on tangible goods in law at the time, such as prescription drugs and the general revenue portion of sales tax on groceries,” the Independent reported. “Retail sales in Missouri are taxed at 4.225% for state purposes — 3% for general revenue, 1% for public schools, 0.125% for the Department of Conservation and 0.1% for state parks and soil conservation. Local option sales taxes are in addition to the state tax and push the total rate in some areas above 10%.”
The tax would be applied to “all sellers for the privilege of selling tangible personal property or rendering taxable services at retail in this state.”
MEANWHILE, REALTOR® PRIORITY BILLS PROGRESS: Two House-approved bills have been assigned to Senate committees:
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The Senate Local Government, Elections and Pensions Committee, chaired by Sen. Rusty Black, R-Chillicothe, will consider legislation prohibiting local governments from mandating acceptance of Section 8 vouchers by private property owners. The House-passed measure is House Committee Substitute for House Bills 595 and 343, sponsored by Rep. Chris Brown, R-Kansas City.
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In the House, HB596 by Rep. Chris Brown, dealing with brokerage services, was endorsed for passage as a consent bill by the House Committee on Consent and Procedure. Consent status means the bill should be considered noncontroversial, it is not subject to floor amendment and requires only one floor vote to advance to the Senate. A REALTORS® consumer protection priority, HB596 requires a real estate licensee acting as a single agent for a buyer or tenant to enter into a written agency agreement with the buyer or tenant before engaging in specified activities.