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St. Louis City Earning Tax Measure (April 2011)

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A St. Louis City Earning Tax Measure was on the April 5, 2011 ballot in St. Louis City.

This measure was approved

  • YES 34,287 (87.55%)Approveda
  • NO 4,881 (12.45%)[1]

This measure was brought forth by a state wide election in November 2010, Missouri earning tax initiative which was approved by state voters. This measure asked city voters if they wanted to continue the 1 percent local earning tax for a further five years.[2] This question will be asked every five years unless residents reject it and then it would not be able to be renewed again. The Sierra Club had come out in favor of this measure, urging city residents to vote Yes on it. Noting that without the earning tax local parks would suffer and other major city services would be cut due to lack of funds. Those against the tax noted that it hinders corporate expansion and costs the city more money.[3]

The group Citizens for a Stronger St. Louis were the main force promoting this measure to residents, having campaigned for the issue, gone door to door to inform residents as well as send out informational packets. Their main argument in favor was that without the earning tax a key part of the city budget would have been lost, resulting in funding cuts to programs and services. The group noted that residents supported the issue in November and hope to continue that support to this vote. If the tax had been defeated, it would have been phased out over a period of ten years and city officials would have had to find alternative sources of funding to fill the budget gap.[4]

Aftermath

Lawsuit

On July 25, 2011, Kansas City Fire Chief Richard Dyer and civic leader Anita Gorman, who helped lead the effort to establish the earnings tax in 1963, filed a lawsuit Cole County Circuit Court. The lawsuit argues that the "Kansas City charter authorizes the local earning tax and does not require the periodic renewal vote."[5]

A lawsuit was dismissed by Cole County Judge Jon Beetem in mid-August 2011. The lawsuit was filed by the Kansas City attorney’s office on behalf of labor leader Pat Dujakovich and City Manager Troy Schulte. Specifically, the lawsuit notes that the election requirement violates the city charter and state constitution, partially because it requires an election costing about $500,000 every five years. According to Beetem the measure does not violate the state constitution because "the Kansas City Council could on its own abolish the earnings tax and isn’t forced to conduct a costly election."[6]

The dismissal, however, does not affect the lawsuit filed in July 2011.

Text of measure

The question on the ballot:

Shall the earnings tax of 1%, imposed by the City of St. Louis, be continued for a period of five (5) years commencing January 1 immediately following the date of this election?[7]

See also

ApprovedaMissouri Earnings Tax Initiative, Proposition A (2010)
Approveda Kansas City Earning Tax Measure (April 2011)

Additional reading

Footnotes

  1. ↑ St. Louis City Board of Elections, April Election Results
  2. ↑ St. Louis City Elections, April Sample Ballot
  3. ↑ CBS St. Louis, "Sierra Club Urging “YES” Vote on Earnings Tax Measure," March 17, 2011
  4. ↑ St. Louis Beacon, "Earnings tax backers push for big voter turnout," March 31, 2011
  5. ↑ Associated Press, "KC leaders file lawsuit over Mo. earnings tax," July 26, 2011 (dead link)
  6. ↑ The Kansas City Star, "Lawsuit challenging earnings tax election requirement is dismissed," August 16, 2011 (dead link)
  7. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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