Alton, Mo. – Tuesday, April 4, 2023, is local elections day. While all of Missouri is voting on local issues, voters in Oregon county have money issues to decide.
School Taxes
Every school except Thayer has something on the ballot. Residents need to realize that taxes do not go down. Once a tax is approved, it is used by the school system. While attendance has plummeted with the pandemic restrictions, school systems still need money to pay teachers and for the buildings. While enrollment is on the upswing in most school districts, schools have needs that need care. Whether repaving a parking lot or stocking the career tech departments, schools are asking the voters for money. Schools are asking for increases in their budgets over the next several years.
Local Use Tax
In addition to the school tax, Oregon County is asking voters for a local use tax. Passing higher tax rates at once can make a definite change in our tax payments come the end of 2023. These taxes apply to all property owners on Oregon County, whether or not you vote.
Just because other school systems have higher tax rates does not necessarily mean that Oregon County needs to pay that. Oregon County citizens need to look at the results coming from the high school and consider the accountability of their funds going to local schools.
Here is a sample ballot for the residents of Oregon County. First is a question regarding a county use tax. Simply find your school system and read what the money is to be spent on. Although this is not a presidential election, this election will determine the direction of our county. AltonMo.com encourages citizens to vote wisely.
I wish you would do some more research on the local use tax. My understanding is that it is tied to local sales taxes, not property taxes. I’ve tried to find information and my impression is that the primary effect will be to force online sellers to collect Oregon county sales tax and/or require Oregon county residences to pay taxes on online and mail order purchases when Oregon county sales taxes are not collected by the seller. However, I cannot find any information that specifically addresses the issue on this ballot to my satisfaction.
@Allen We really appreciate you taking the time to comment.
Yes, we are trying to get information from County Commissioner David Stubblefield about this. Hopefully he, or his office, can shed some light on this. We agree that this article is not something that is supplying any thinking individual with enough information to make a decision. We’re trying to fix that.
If you get some info or learn where we can find out more, please use the contact form or just reply here.
Wishing you an A+ day!
@Allen I’ve got an update for your question. Read more over at https://www.altonmo.com/politics/government/what-is-the-proposed-oregon-county-use-tax-20230403
The relevant part is this “What this appears to be is a use tax that will be added to purchases made online or mail order where you didn’t get charged sales tax in addition to the use taxes Missouri already charges, BUT we haven’t been able to get confirmation on that.”
Very best to you.