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Missouri Mayors Request Special Session to Address Wayfair

Posted on May 26, 2020

Missouri mayors are urging the governor to call a special session of the General Assembly to enact legislation addressing the U.S. Supreme Court's 2018 Wayfair decision.

Missouri Mayors United, a group of 367 mayors, made the request in a May 19 letter to Gov. Mike Parson (R).

The group's president, Pleasant Valley Mayor David Slater, wrote that “our state, counties and cities all could use the extra funding as the [coronavirus] has placed a huge dent in our sales tax revenues.”

“This would not be a one-time revenue boost; it would provide a much-needed annual benefit and level the playing field for our Missouri businesses,” Slater said.

Slater told Tax Notes May 22 that he hasn't yet received a response from the governor but was told that the letter is being reviewed by senior staff. 

Missouri is one of just two states with a state sales tax that hasn't adopted remote seller rules addressing the decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair Inc.; the other state is Florida.

Missouri lawmakers failed to pass remote seller legislation during this year's legislative session, which ended May 15.

Part of the issue was a debate over whether a revenue offset should be included in the legislation. House leaders wanted an individual income tax cut attached to the legislation but couldn't get enough votes for it to pass, according to Missouri Budget Project spokesman Jeremy LaFaver.

At the end of the session, a compromise was offered that would have eliminated local cable franchise fees to allow the legislation to move forward, but the proposal never received a vote, LaFaver said. 

“We are requesting that the bill addresses only Wayfair and consists of language that would not require a vote of our constituents,” the mayors' letter continued.

"We are having huge problems with our sales tax collections because our businesses are shut down. Missouri-based businesses have to pay use taxes, but other businesses in other states and overseas don't, and that's just not fair," Slater said. 

A spokesperson for Parson did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

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