Prime Examples of Bad Government in St. Louis County Cities
In case you needed it, reason 8,191 why Missouri should not allow municipalities to just do whatever they want—local control and all that—can be found in some recent north St. Louis County news.
First, Ferguson has decided that it is going to pull the business licenses of businesses that are behind on their property taxes. America learned in the late 1700s that it was a bad idea to throw debtors in prison because, well, how can they pay their debts if they can’t work because they are in prison? Robert Morris—one of the underappreciated founding fathers—was the poster child for these changes. If Ferguson policymakers were only considering pulling the licenses of businesses that owned their property, they would at least have an argument. But Ferguson has decided to pull the licenses of businesses that rent their space, meaning they aren’t late on their taxes at all because they don’t owe any property taxes—their landlords do. So, if the landlord doesn’t pay the tax, the rent-paying business will lose their license. That is, to put it bluntly, an atrocious policy.
Nearby in Bellefontaine Neighbors, the city has decided to address a budget deficit by instituting a fee to be a landlord in the city. It is a $300 annual fee per home or apartment being rented charged to every landlord. The fee was enacted in late 2022, but is in the news now because a landlord just sued over it. This fee is on top of the existing—and more understandable—inspection ($75) and occupancy permit ($40) fees that landlords and tenants already pay. Of course, they pay property taxes, too. The city was facing a projected budget deficit of a few hundred thousand dollars when it created the fee. I guess the easiest solution was to just stick it to landlords.
I hope both of these bad policies will lose in court. Ferguson shouldn’t deny a business license to people (the renters) who don’t even owe the property tax in the first place. Bellefontaine Neighbors’ voters did not approve the new tax, and I don’t know how the city can call it a fee when it already charges existing fees to cover the costs imposed by landlords and renters.
The Missouri Constitution says all local taxes have to be authorized under state law. Thank God for that. Cities, as seen in these two examples here, are constantly looking for opportunities to raise revenue improperly even with the state law (as the City of St. Louis successfully did with its payroll tax). I can’t imagine how bad local taxes and fees would be without it. We would probably be an entire state of Macks Creeks.