The Cape Girardeau City Council expressed support for reinstating a sales tax holiday during the back-to-school weekend at Monday night’s meeting. During the holiday, certain back-to-school items like clothes, computers, school supplies and other items can be purchased sales tax-free.
City staff will not prepare an ordinance to bring before Council.
Councilmember John Voss thinks reviving the sales tax holiday is the right thing to do.
“We’ve just had the opportunity to receives monies from the casino, and that’s been a real blessing for us and this is a small way that we can contribute back in the pocketbooks of our consumers,” Voss said. “Certainly back-to-school is always a time that you spend a little bit more money, and this is a goodwill gesture on our part.”
The city is projected to bring in $3-4 million in casino revenue. The city would forgo a maximum of $82,000 by not collecting back-to-school during the back-to-school weekend.
City manager Scott Meyer hopes the the sales tax holiday will attract more people to shop in Cape Girardeau and maybe even spur more sales in restaurants and other business.
“Probably the biggest benefit is citizens can save money in their back-to-school budgets because of the city’s financial discipline,” Meyers said.
Per Missouri law, the sales tax holiday begins on the first Friday of August.
The city opted out of the sales tax holiday in 2009.
