During a recent Aviation Day event at the Missouri State Capitol, AOPA met with lawmakers to continue advocating for bills that would specifically include aviation in the state’s recreational-use statute and create a tax exemption for certain aircraft purchases.
At the April 14 event in Jefferson City, AOPA Central Southwest Regional Manager Yasmina Platt provided lawmakers with information about the value of GA in the state, which has 128 public-use airports. She also encouraged them to support changes to the state’s recreational-use statute that would ensure airstrip owners have liability protection when opening their property to public aviation uses.
And Platt urged state lawmakers to support legislation in both the state House and Senate that would exempt aircraft purchased by out-of-state residents from paying Missouri sales-and-use tax as long as the aircraft is based in another state within 10 business days. If it passes, that law would bring Missouri in line with practices in neighboring states. Currently, many aircraft shoppers choose to buy aircraft in Kansas or Illinois, for example, where they are not required to pay state sales tax if they plan to base their aircraft elsewhere. When that happens, Missouri businesses not only miss out on the aircraft sales, but also on pre-buy inspections and potential aircraft maintenance repairs and upgrades. In addition, local communities miss out on revenues and taxes generated from hotel rooms, fuel sales, restaurants, and other purchases made while the new owner is in town considering, upgrading, or acquiring the aircraft.
As part of the celebrations at the Capitol and to acknowledge the importance of GA to the state, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and Jefferson City Mayor Eric Struemph issued proclamations naming April 2015 as General Aviation Appreciation Month.
