St. Louis is facing a lawsuit challenging a decision made last year to deny earnings tax refunds to telecommuters during the pandemic.
Attorneys Bevis Schock and Mark Milton filed on Monday in federal court in St. Louis.
They represent plaintiffs Mark Boles, Nicholas Oar and Kos Semonski, residents of St. Louis County and St. Charles County who worked remotely during the pandemic and were denied refunds for the 2020 tax year, according to the lawsuit.
Schock said his plaintiffs were denied refunds 鈥渋n the hundreds of dollars.鈥� He said there are thousands of other people who would be eligible to join the suit.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e just brazenly holding on to people鈥檚 money, which they鈥檙e not entitled to,鈥� Schock said of the city's move to collect the tax.
The suit seeks class-action status and requests the city pay damages to the plaintiffs, including all earnings tax paid for work performed outside the city and legal fees.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 owe the tax if the ordinance doesn鈥檛 say you owe the tax,鈥� Schock said. 鈥淭he next thing is that the city is unbelievably wasteful. It鈥檚 a cesspool of corruption and patronage.鈥�
Everyone who lives or works in the city must pay a 1% tax on their earnings, which is withheld from pay by employers. Typically, the government allows those who aren鈥檛 city residents to fill out an E-1R earnings tax refund form for days they worked outside the city for business travel.
The city鈥檚 doesn鈥檛 address telecommuting. , the collector of revenue鈥檚 office said people working remotely due to the pandemic would not be eligible for a refund.
The tax year says 鈥渁 regular workday does not include holidays, vacation, working remotely from home or other work absences.鈥�
A spokesman for St. Louis Collector of Revenue Gregory F.X. Daly said he hadn鈥檛 had a chance to read through the lawsuit yet and could not comment on it.
Earlier this month, Daly . He said the earnings tax is vital. It brings in about $240 million a year, which accounts for more than a third of the city鈥檚 budget and pays for services including police, fire and parks.
Daly said about 70% of that money is paid by people who work in the city but don鈥檛 live there.
鈥淲hen they come in to enjoy the zoo, the parks, the ballpark or whatever, as far as some of the things that we have as a city then obviously we're in a position to provide their safety, their enjoyment, their entertainment, and that's part of what the earnings tax does,鈥� he said.
Daly said also seeking to force the city to refund earnings taxes to remote workers would cost the city millions of dollars if it were enacted. More than 200,000 workers commute to the city for work, according to U.S. Census data from a 2018 American Community Survey.
St. Louis residents heading to the polls next week will vote on whether to renew the earnings tax. The measure, called Prop E, resurfaces on the ballot every five years, and voters historically have approved it with widespread support.
Schock said that he has no position on Prop E and that the lawsuit is unrelated.
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