Section X Section 3

Constitution

Effective - 02 Sep 1982, see footnote   

  X Section 3.  Limitation of taxation to public purposes — uniformity — general laws — time for payment of taxes — valuation. — Taxes may be levied and collected for public purposes only, and shall be uniform upon the same class or subclass of subjects within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax.  All taxes shall be levied and collected by general laws and shall be payable during the fiscal or calendar year in which the property is assessed.  Except as otherwise provided in this constitution, the methods of determining the value of property for taxation shall be fixed by law.

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Source: Const. of 1875, Art. X, § 3 (Amended August 3, 1982).

(1953) Earnings tax imposed by city of St. Louis under statutory authority held not violative of the due process and uniform tax provisions of the constitution. Walters v. City of St. Louis 364 Mo. 56, 259 S.W.2d 377.

(1954) City ordinance levying license tax of five dollars a day on photographers who are nonresidents, while resident photographers were taxed at the rate of $20 per year, held discriminatory and violative of commerce provision of federal constitution when applied to business partly conducted in another state. Olan Mills, Inc. v. City of Cape Girardeau, 364 Mo. 1089, 272 S.W.2d 244.

(1955) Tax imposed by sewer district formed under § 30, Art. VI of Const., of 3 cents on $100 valuation on property in St. Louis County and 2 cents on such property in St. Louis City for general purposes held violative of this provision and tax in excess of 2 cents is void, but this uniformity provision does not apply to special assessments. State on Inf. Dalton v. Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer Dist. (Mo.), 275 S.W.2d 225.

(1958) Where evidence showed that commercially zoned property in specified city had increased in value far more than that in other localities, an assessment of such commercially zoned property on the basis of revaluation in an effort to fix all assessments in county at 30% of actual value held not violative of the uniformity of taxation or equal protection provisions of the constitution even though other property in county was not reassessed. May Dept. Stores Co. v. State Tax Comm. (Mo.), 308 S.W.2d 748.

(1961) Sections 144.600 to 144.745, RSMo, as adopted in 1959, imposing a compensating use tax on merchandise stored, used or consumed within this state held arbitrary and invalid insofar as they exempted from the tax the use of merchandise which was subject to the state sales tax which it was intended to complement. Missouri Pacific R.R. Co. v. Morris (Mo.), 345 S.W.2d 52.

(1964) Where taxable property lying within the boundaries of a county library district was incorporated by annexation into the boundaries of a city which had a tax supported free public library, held that the property was subject to the taxing power of both districts and such interpretation did not violate Art. X, § 3, and Art. I, §§ 2, 10, 26 and 28 of Mo. Const. St. Louis County Library District v. Hopkins (Mo.), 375 S.W.2d 71.

(1968) Where voters of each of four school districts, prior to consolidation into one district, had adopted tax levies, each different for the respective districts, the respective levies were valid and could continue to be collected after the consolidation and paid to the new district. Lewis County C-I School District v. Normile (Mo.), 431 S.W.2d 118.

(1972) Tax levies of different amount voted prior to consolidation of school districts do not violate this section since the probation applies only to the taxing authority at the time the levy is made. State ex rel. Fort Osage School District v. Conley (Mo.), 485 S.W.2d 469.

(1979) Failure of county to reassess homes since 1960 while assessing new homes at one-third their value violated constitutional requirement that taxes be uniform. State ex rel. Casilly v. Riney (Mo.), 576 S.W.2d 325.

(1990) Where retirement benefits from private nongovernmental employment were subject to income tax and retirement benefits from governmental employment were exempt, tax scheme did not violate constitutional provision that tax be applied uniformly to a class of persons, the legislature's classification of governmental and nongovernmental employees' retirement benefits is reasonable. Schnorbus v. Director of Revenue, 790 S.W.2d 241 (Mo. en banc).