I Should Have Just Kept Quiet About This

Economy |
By David Stokes | Read Time 1 minute

This post on competing sales tax rates at sandwich shops in the Central West End has not had the results I had hoped for. (I don’t really know which results I hoped for, just not this one.) Panera The St. Louis Bread Company on the Forest Park Parkway near Euclid has apparently raised its sales taxes. In the last post, two months ago, it had by far the lowest rate in the area. On a recent trip there to get some coffee, superstar intern Tom Duda saw that the tax has been increased dramatically. A tax that had been below 6 percent is now more than 10 percent. At least 1.5 percent of that can be attributed to an application of the sit-down restaurant tax, but I don’t know where the rest comes in. (Both visits measured were “to go,” to keep it clean and simple.)

Needless to say, Show-Me Daily is not exactly proud to have potentially contributed to a tax increase.

About the Author

David Stokes is a St. Louis native and a graduate of Saint Louis University High School and Fairfield (Conn.) University. He spent six years as a political aide at the St. Louis County Council before joining the Show-Me Institute in 2007. Stokes was a policy analyst at the Show-Me Institute from 2007 to 2016. From 2016 through 2020 he was Executive Director of Great Rivers Habitat Alliance, where he led efforts to oppose harmful floodplain developments done with abusive tax subsidies. Stokes rejoined the Institute in early 2021 as the Director of Municipal Policy. He is a past president of the University City Library Board. He served on the St. Louis County 2010 Council Redistricting Commission and was the 2012 representative to the Electoral College from Missouri’s First Congressional District. He lives in University City with his wife and their three children.

Similar Stories

Support Us

Headline to go here about the good with supporting us.

Donate
Man on Horse Charging