Missouri Revised Statutes

Mo. Rev. Stat. § 94.270 (2026)

✓ current as of May 2026

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*94.270. Power to license, tax and regulate certain businesses and occupations — prohibition on local license fees in excess of certain amounts in certain cities (Edmundson, Woodson Terrace) — license fee on hotels or motels (St. Peters) — increase or decrease of tax, when. — 1. The mayor and board of aldermen shall have power and authority to regulate and to license and to levy and collect a license tax on auctioneers, druggists, hawkers, peddlers, banks, brokers, pawnbrokers, merchants of all kinds, grocers, confectioners, restaurants, butchers, taverns, hotels, public boardinghouses, billiard and pool tables and other tables, bowling alleys, lumber dealers, real estate agents, loan companies, loan agents, public buildings, public halls, opera houses, concerts, photographers, bill posters, artists, agents, porters, public lecturers, public meetings, circuses and shows, for parades and exhibitions, moving picture shows, horse or cattle dealers, patent right dealers, stockyards, inspectors, gaugers, mercantile agents, gas companies, insurance companies, insurance agents, express companies, and express agents, telegraph companies, light, power and water companies, telephone companies, manufacturing and other corporations or institutions, automobile agencies, and dealers, public garages, automobile repair shops or both combined, dealers in automobile accessories, gasoline filling stations, soft drink stands, ice cream stands, ice cream and soft drink stands combined, soda fountains, street railroad cars, omnibuses, drays, transfer and all other vehicles, traveling and auction stores, plumbers, and all other business, trades and avocations whatsoever, and fix the rate of carriage of persons, drayage and cartage of property; and to license, tax, regulate and suppress ordinaries, money brokers, money changers, intelligence and employment offices and agencies, public masquerades, balls, street exhibitions, dance houses, fortune tellers, pistol galleries, corn doctors, private venereal hospitals, museums, menageries, equestrian performances, horoscopic views, telescopic views, lung testers, muscle developers, magnifying glasses, ten pin alleys, ball alleys, billiard tables, pool tables and other tables, theatrical or other exhibitions, boxing and sparring exhibitions, shows and amusements, tippling houses, and sales of unclaimed goods by express companies or common carriers, auto wrecking shops and junk dealers; to license, tax and regulate hackmen, draymen, omnibus drivers, porters and all others pursuing like occupations, with or without vehicles, and to prescribe their compensation; and to regulate, license and restrain runners for steamboats, cars, and public houses; and to license ferries, and to regulate the same and the landing thereof within the limits of the city, and to license and tax auto liveries, auto drays and jitneys.

2. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, no city of the fourth classification with more than eight hundred but less than nine hundred inhabitants and located in any county with a charter form of government and with more than one million inhabitants shall levy or collect a license fee on hotels or motels in an amount in excess of thirteen dollars fifty cents per room per year. No hotel or motel in such city shall be required to pay a license fee in excess of such amount, and any license fee in such city that exceeds the limitations of this subsection shall be automatically reduced to comply with this subsection.

3. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, no city of the fourth classification with more than four thousand one hundred but less than four thousand two hundred inhabitants and located in any county with a charter form of government and with more than one million inhabitants shall levy or collect a license fee on hotels or motels in an amount in excess of thirteen dollars and fifty cents per room per year. No hotel or motel in such city shall be required to pay a license fee in excess of such amount, and any license fee in such city that exceeds the limitations of this subsection shall be automatically reduced to comply with this subsection.

4. Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, on or after January 1, 2006, no city of the fourth classification with more than fifty-one thousand three hundred and eighty but less than fifty-one thousand four hundred inhabitants and located in any county with a charter form of government and with more than two hundred eighty thousand but less than two hundred eighty-five thousand or no city of the fourth classification with more than fifty-one thousand but fewer than fifty-two thousand inhabitants and located in any county with a charter form of government and with more than two hundred eighty thousand but less than two hundred eighty-five thousand shall levy or collect a license fee on hotels or motels in an amount in excess of one thousand dollars per year. No hotel or motel in such city shall be required to pay a license fee in excess of such amount, and any license fee in such city that exceeds the limitation of this subsection shall be automatically reduced to comply with this subsection.

5. Any city under subsection 4 of this section may increase a hotel and motel license tax by five percent per year but the total tax levied under this section shall not exceed one-eighth of one percent of such hotels' or motels' gross revenue.

6. Any city under subsection 1 of this section may increase a hotel and motel license tax by five percent per year but the total tax levied under this section shall not exceed the greater of:

(1) One-eighth of one percent of such hotels' or motels' gross revenue; or

(2) The business license tax rate for such hotel or motel on May 1, 2005.

7. The provisions of subsection 6 of this section shall not apply to any tax levied by a city when the revenue from such tax is restricted for use to a project from which bonds are outstanding as of May 1, 2005.

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(RSMo 1939 § 7196, A.L. 1945 p. 1224, A.L. 1953 p. 91, A.L. 1963 p. 154, A.L. 2004 S.B. 758 merged with S.B. 1155 merged with S.B. 1394, A.L. 2005 H.B. 58 merged with H.B. 186 merged with S.B. 210, A.L. 2013 S.B. 99, A.L. 2014 S.B. 672)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 7046; 1919 § 8497; 1909 § 9399

*Revisor's Note: This section was declared unconstitutional in Calzone v. Koster, et al., see 2016 annotation below.

CROSS REFERENCE:

Imposition of tax or fee prohibited on auctioneers, real estate brokers, real estate agents, unless business office maintained, 71.620

(1986) A motor carrier licensed by the Public Service Commission pursuant to section 390.020, RSMo, is under the Commission's exclusive authority, and, notwithstanding section 94.270, RSMo, no municipality may regulate such carrier. Wilson v. City of St. Robert, 714 S.W.2d 738 (Mo.App.).

(2016) Provisions of S.B. 672 from 2014 declared unconstitutional as violating the single subject rule of Article III, § 23; under the facts presented, those provisions cannot be severed and the bill is unconstitutional in its entirety. Calzone v. Koster, et al., Case No. 15AC-CC00247 (Cole County Cir. Ct., Feb. 9, 2016).

(2022) Provider of voice over internet protocol telephone services through a broadband cable network was "telephone company" providing "telephone service" subject to local ordinances imposing business license taxes on telephone service providers. Collector of Winchester v. Charter Communications, Inc., 660 S.W.3d 405 (Mo.App.E.D.).

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 16 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1954–2022 · leading case: City of Belton v. Smoky Hill Ry. & Historical Soc'y, Inc., 170 S.W.3d 429 (Mo. Ct. App. 2005).

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City of Belton v. Smoky Hill Ry. & Historical Soc'y, Inc., 170 S.W.3d 429 (Mo. Ct. App. 2005). · cites it 12× “In support of Point III, Smoky Hill argues a municipality’s power to regulate businesses and issue licenses is derived from section 94.270, 1 and absent a specific grant of power by the state, the city has no such power because it is a creature of the legislature and has only…”

State ex rel. Slah, L.L.C. v. City of Woodson Terrace, 378 S.W.3d 357 (Mo. 2012). · cites it 4× “During the 2004 legislative session, the General Assembly enacted subsection 3 of section 94.270, which became effective August 23, 2004.”

City of Sunset Hills v. Sw. Bell Mobile Sys. Inc., 14 S.W.3d 54 (Mo. Ct. App. 1999). · cites it 9× “Section 94.270, RSMo (1994) provides in pertinent part: “The mayor and board of alderman shall have power and authority to regulate and to license and to levy and collect a license tax on .”

Owen v. City of Branson, 305 S.W.2d 492 (Mo. Ct. App. 1957). · cites it 5× “The petition attacks the validity of the ordinance because (a) the operation of a boat dock is not one of the things authorized to be licensed and taxed (see Section 94.270, RSMo 1949, V.A.M.S., as limited by Section 71.”

City of Flordell Hills v. Hardekopf, 271 S.W.2d 256 (Mo. Ct. App. 1954). · cites it 5× “Section 94.270 RSMo 1949, V.A.M.S. Neither section has anything to say, however, as to how the amount of the tax shall be determined.”

St. Louis Ass'n of Realtors v. City of Ferguson, 499 S.W.3d 395 (Mo. Ct. App. 2016). · cites it 2× “Similarly, section 94.270 5 grants fourth class cities the power to license, tax, and regulate certain businesses and occupations, section 94.”

City of St. Clair v. Cash, 579 S.W.2d 763 (Mo. Ct. App. 1979). · cites it 2× “We cannot determine whether the ordinance requires a license of one who engages in activities such as those of the respondent, nor can we determine whether § 94.270 authorizes a fourth-class city to regulate and license such activities, for the record does not advise us what…”

Airway Drive-In Theatre Co. v. City of St. Ann, 354 S.W.2d 858 (Mo. 1962). · cites it 3× “Section 94.270 RSMo 1959, V.A.M.S., applicable to cities of the fourth class, specifically lists “moving picture shows” among the businesses upon which license taxes may be levied.”

City of Odessa v. Borgic, 456 S.W.2d 611 (Mo. Ct. App. 1970). · cites it 4× “The sole grant of such authority to plaintiff derives from Section 94.270, as revised and amended in 1963, referable to cities of the fourth class, entitled “Power to License, Tax and Regulate Certain Businesses and Occupations”.”

Riden v. City of Rolla, 348 S.W.2d 946 (Mo. 1961). · cites it 4× “110, applying to third-class cities, authorizes a license tax on barbershops and beauty parlors, while Section 94.270, relating to fourth-class cities, does not authorize such a tax.”

Thunder Oil Co. v. City of Sunset Hills, 349 S.W.2d 82 (Mo. 1961). · cites it 2× “Plaintiff’s first substantive argument is that the imposition of this license fee constituted an attempt to tax gasoline as a commodity, such being beyond the powers of the city, and that defendant’s action is, in fact, a subterfuge.”

Wilson v. City of St. Robert, 714 S.W.2d 738 (Mo. Ct. App. 1986). · cites it 6× “The respondent city answers that under the provisions of § 94.270, the Mayor and Board of Aldermen of the City of St.”

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