Dive Brief:
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Construction firms in Missouri will no longer be eligible for a sales tax exemption on cranes, asphalt and steel beams used in constructing buildings and paving roads.
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The Missouri Chamber of Commerce has said it will ask the state Legislature to reverse three Missouri Supreme Court rulings on the issue through legislation.
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One ruling applied to a case involving the rental of cranes used to install manufacturing machinery. The high court said cranes are “machinery” and not “materials,” and therefore they are not exempt from sales tax. In the other two cases, the court said paving materials and steel beams do not qualify as tax-exempt under a law that waives the tax for supplies used in manufacturing, processing, compounding or producing.
Dive Insight:
Businesses in the past have claimed sales tax exemptions for large machinery used to install manufacturing equipment, Associated Industries of Missouri President Ray McCarty told The Columbia Missourian.
The Missouri Chamber of Commerce will argue that the court misinterpreted what the Legislature intended when it used the word “materials” to craft the state law on sales tax exemptions.