A second Missouri county is about to eliminate the property tax that funds general county operations. Clay County, near Kansas City, is going to rely on earmarked sales taxes approved by the voters. Voters in Lawrence County will decide in February whether they want to kill the sales tax, too. The big drawback is that sales taxes are not as reliable as property taxes because they fluctuate with the economy. Although counties might eliminate or limit the property taxes for general operations, property taxes are not eliminated entirely. They’re still collected for other entities – schools take about two-thirds of the property tax income.
