Outfitters Condemn 'Canoe Tax'

Crawford County commissioners and area canoe outfitters held a sometimes tense 90-minute discussion Tuesday over what the business owners perceived to be the commission's endorsement of a maximum 10 percent 'canoe' or 'tourism' tax in the Missouri legislature.

All three -- Presiding Commissioner Leo Sanders, District 1 Commissioner Rob Cummings and District 2 Commissioner Jared Boast -- were opposed to the tax for various reasons, but the outfitters, led by Ozark Outdoors' Robert "Bear" Bass and Blue Springs Ranch's JR Isom, wanted them to push back harder and voice their opposition to its passage if it comes up in the next session.

On May 9, Representative Jason Chipman of Missouri's 120th District, which includes Crawford County, offered an amendment to Senate Bill No. 283. Missouri's Revised Statute 67.1185.1 allows the governing body of any county with a population of at least 18,000 adjoining a first-class county of less than 100,000 and four other third-class counties to impose "a surcharge on the sale of each ticket, admission or participation in any private tourist attraction; the daily rental of rooms or accommodations paid by transient guests of hotels, motels or campgrounds."

Read more on this story in the June 28 issue of the Independent News.