New use tax measures will be on the ballot in Randolph County and for the city of Moberly on November sixth.
The use tax would be imposed on consumers that purchase tangible items outside Randolph County. People that spend less than a total of $2,000 on out of state purchases would be exempt from the use tax, but anyone that spends more than $2,000 over the course of a year would have to file a use tax return for those purchases. Moberly City Manager Andy Morris says if the initiatives don’t pass, the city and the county could lose a lot of money.
“I think over time it’s certainly going to have a revenue effect," said Morris. "I mean our estimates here, I live in the county level, they’re going to lose something like $65,000; ours is around $35,000.”
Morris and Presiding Commissioner of Randolph County, Susan Carter, say the use tax is not an increase on the taxes paid by the citizens. Instead, it is a replacement of the local sales tax that is lost on goods purchased outside of the state. The city use tax would be 2.5 percent, and the county would add an additional one percent of the purchase price.
