To the Members of the Missouri Pilots Association:

The response to our initial email regarding the Consumer Use Tax issue and to Jonathan Rimington's subsequent message has been overwhelming. The information you have provided through your emails to Carolyn Morris have provided us with a great data base that we are using to formulate our plan of action. The large volume of your responses indicates that this is a subject of great concern to our membership.

You will find a Memorandum from Lynn Rodgers, MPA's Legal Counsel, on the website (link below). This will be the cornerstone of the Association's approach to the Missouri Department of Revenue because, after all, the Association cannot legally speak for each one of you individually nor can we give you legal advice as we are not your attorney.

Now - this is where you come in. Whatever success we achieve will come from the fact that we have all spoken with one voice. This is not a time when "silence is golden". Each one of us, whether we own a plane or not and whether we've received the infamous letter or not, must contact our state representative and our state senator. Your Missouri Senators and Representative can be found using the MPA website (link below). We must all educate our legislators on the inequities of this program that the Department of Revenue has instituted.

Here are some of the tactics that our individual members have taken so far in dealing with DOR.

· They have asked for the penalty to be removed. This seems to be accomplished fairly easily.

· They have asked for the date of the first bill that was sent. If this is the first bill, they have asked how can interest be assessed on the first bill sent?

· They have written "Paid in Full If Cashed" on the memorandum line of the check written just for the tax.

· They have written 2 checks - one for the tax and one for the interest and penalty. On both checks they have written "Paid in Protest".

· They have asked for Form C401 from DOR that outlines the official way to protest the tax. Having received Form C401, they have called DOR and asked for Form MO-656 that is an "Offer of Compromise". (The assumption is that these forms are also available on-line.)

· They have asked what the Statute of Limitations is since the Federal Statute of Limitations is 3 years and usually supersedes state tax law.

· They have asked how the department can assess a tax that hasn't been regularly collected in the past and that its satellite offices have not known about and still don't.

The above items are also good points to bring up when talking with your legislators. In addition, do not hesitate to remind your representatives of the information reported in AOPA's letter to DOR (link below) - "11,000 pilots and 6,200 aircraft at nearly 500 airport facilities, contribute nearly $2.5 billion to Missouri's economy." Several of our members have remarked that, had they known about this tax, they would not have bought a plane and definitely will not trade up now - even though this is a good time to do so.

Your Board of Directors cannot act alone on this issue. Can we count on your support? Can we count on you contacting your legislators now and when we have a bill ready to present?

You will be receiving updates as we proceed. Please email Carolyn Morris at cpmorris61@yahoo.com with any pertinent information you learn when talking with your legislators.

Link for Lynn Rodgers Memo

Link for AOPA's Letter to DOR

Link to find your Senators/Representative