A push is on in the legislature to say the state should not charge sales taxes on vehicles of a certain age. But some lawmakers worry about what the savings would cost and who could get hurt.
The state collects sales taxes anytime a vehicle is sold, even if it’s a 1972 Pontiac that has been on blocks in somebody’s front yard.
The Senate has passed Senator Mike Parson’s bill saying no sales tax will be charged on any vehicle costing less than $15,000, if the vehicle is ten or more years old. He says his bill is aimed at the person living from paycheck to paycheck and needing transportation.
But passage of the bill will mean $35-million a year less in sales taxes going to the state transportation department, which has hundreds of inadequate bridges. Jefferson City Senator Mike Kehoe is a leading Senator on transportation issues.
Kehoe says those bridges will be closed within the next two to three years. Nonetheless, he has voted for the bill, saying it makes good sense, even if approval of it further undermines the transportation department’s already-inadequate funding.
St. Joseph Senator Rob Schaaf has a different concern. It’s a matter of fairness to him.
Schaaf was the only Senator to vote against sending the bill to the House.
