ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The Missouri House passed a bill that would exempt employees who work remotely, outside the city of St. Louis, from paying the one percent earnings tax.
"What would happen is it would exempt employees who work remote, meaning outside of the city of St. Louis. Their job might be in the city, that's where their employer might be, but if they were working remote, it would uh kind of exempt them from that 1% earnings tax," said Fox 2 News Capitol Bureau Reporter Emily Manley on Total Information P.M. Wednesday.
Under the new bill, the bill would require the city to create a process for remote workers to request earning's tax refunds.
Manley says that only two cities in the state pay this earning tax: St. Louis and Kansas City, but it more focuses on St. Louis because Kansas City already allows the earning tax refunds to happen during the pandemic and so Kansas City has already been doing it.
"This conversation has been going on for years. It has been a public, a Republican priority to kind of phase out this earnings tax." said Manley on Total Information P.M. Wednesday. "There are some lawmakers here in Jefferson City that said, 'wait a minute, why is the city of St. Louis not offering these refunds?'"
St. Louis City is attempting to push back on it, saying they could lose out on an excess amount of money if remote workers aren't being taxed. The city is still waiting for a decision from the Appeals Court about a lawsuit came after the pandemic when some workers who sued the city of St. Louis for denying them earnings tax refunds during the pandemic.
The legislation now heads to the Senate.