Chamber endorses county use tax

The Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce has thrown its support behind a proposed 1.25 percent use tax designed to bolster Greene County's bottom line.

Voters will make a decision on the measure at the polls tomorrow.

The proposition calls for a use tax for purchases made online or by mail from places outside Missouri, and for vehicles purchased outside the state by residents. The pitch for funding comes as the county's general fund, currently holding a balance of nearly $5 million, is expected to be $1 million in the red by 2017, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.

Chamber officials said without a use tax, there's an incentive for customers to take their business outside the state rather than spend their money locally.

"The use tax helps our businesses compete with those in other states," the chamber said in its position statement on SpringfieldChamber.com. "It levels the playing field for businesses that have invested in a bricks and mortar presence in our community."

Using his open-book management program The Great Game of Business, SRC Holdings Corp. CEO Jack Stack has helped the county identify possible solutions to a revenue crunch that has persisted since the onset of the recession.

“Greene County has experienced almost a $3 million reduction in revenues since the recession of ’09. The associates had taken a significant amount of hits. They have been on a wage freeze for the last five years. I really believe, as we’ve gone through this 16-month process, the associates have done everything they can to stretch things as far as they can," Stack said is a YouTube video produced for the county.

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