When we went to the Capitol Movie Theatre in the 1940s, a ticket for kids under the age of twelve cost 10 cents and 2 mills. Without the 2 mills, Mr. Arnold Gould would not let us in. If we gave the ticket seller 11 cents, she gave us 8 mills in change. The 2 mills were for the sales tax that Mr. Gould had to remit to the state of Missouri.
A mill is one-tenth of a cent, or one-thousandth of a dollar (it’s from the Latin word mille, which means “thousand”). Missouri had a state sales tax of 2 percent and issued sales tax tokens to help collect the tax when it came to tenths of cents. If you wanted to buy some dress material at the Southside Dry Goods Store, and Mr. Schmidt’s price for it was $3.70, he would add on the state sales tax of 7.4 cents, so the total bill would be $3.77 and 4 mills. You either gave him the 4 mills, or you gave him another penny and he gave you back 6 mills change.
Beginning in August 1935, Missouri issued tokens in 1-mill and 5-mill values in order to collect the sales tax. They were made of thin cardboard and called “milk-cap tokens” because they looked like the cardboard caps that were used for glass milk bottles.
Then Missouri tried metal tokens, which were slightly larger than a nickel, but thinner. They were lightweight, dull, and ugly and would never be mistaken for a coin. The 5-mill token had a hole in the center. Boys tried to use them in pinball machines, but they jammed the coin slot.
When World War II came, all metal went for the war effort, so Missouri turned to plastic tokens. The 1-mill token was bright red, and the 5-mill token bright green. The plastic easily warped, even under slight heat like sitting out in the sun, but even if they were curled, Mr. Gould accepted them at the Capitol Theatre.
They were useless for pinball machines! We boys laid them on the Missouri Pacific railroad tracks when we heard a train coming and watched the train’s wheels flatten them into half-dollar size.
Inflation after the war caused prices to rise quickly, and separate tokens for tenths of cents fell out of favor. Merchants didn’t like to fool around with tenths of cents, which required doing long multiplication on a piece of paper, so they simply rounded the sales tax to the nearest whole penny. This is what is done today when you buy gas at the gas station. Shoppers were glad not to have to fool around with a separate set of coins in their pockets and purses.
Missouri finally got rid of its sales tax tokens in 1961. It was the last state to do so!
Are Missouri sales tax tokens worthy anything today? So many millions were produced, and they were made so cheaply, that their value is trivial today. Collectibles dealers often sell them in boxes with miscellaneous paraphernalia.
The mills (and the milk jug cap!) in the pictures are from my collection. Some of the information was taken from the website of the American Tax Token Society.
Copyright 2012 by Walter A. Schroeder.
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17 comments:
Nice article! Well written, and Great Pictures - Thanks!
Why, thank YOU for your kind comment!
I went to the nearby gas station and asked the clerk to buy one gallon of gas for $2.99.9, the posted price, gave her three dollars, and asked for a mil in change. She didn't know what I was talking about. I said that your gas is posted for less than three dollars and I wanted my change. She didn't think it was funny. Why do they post prices for tenths of cents???
ive been looking for years for a picture of these. i remember in my grade school math book a picture of a 'red cent' - guess they were teaching fractions at the time, but that image always stuck with me. thanx for the great info!
i have found a lot of these. in my grandmas house.
found a 5 mil in my garden, coming up before the cucumbers did.
As a child I remember these but I could never find anyone who had the same memory. I did not realize they were only in Missouri. Thanks a lot. I am not crazy.
I lived in KC, MO, from 1943 to 1947, then moved to the Kansas side. I remember the mills well. When I started going to the movies by myself the half-price for kids was 13¢; they didn't bother with mills at the Warwick Theater near 39th & Main, but that was after The War. But the Katz Drug store, Woolworths and Kresges were big on mills. I don't remember the mills being in use as late as 1961, but I was a world traveler by 1956, so didn't get to the Missouri side much after that.
I'm sorry if I'm kinda out of the subject I just wanted to know this coin worth. Or if I'll be able to sell I have one of this.. valuable to to people from Missouri for sure seeing this surely will reminisce the past.. again I just wanted to know.. thanks
I would also like to know if it is worth anything as would be an old coin?
I found a bunch of these but never knew the story. The story was very informing.
Fantastic article! Thanks for posting and the knowledge with it.
Great history article! My brother just asked me tonight if I remembered these.
Of course!
As a child I had a metal cash register & used the plastic mills for playing "store". When older, I used them "for real" @ Woolworth's in St. Louis! :) Thanks for the "memories"!!
in reading about mills I noticed your mention of South Side Dry Goods owned by Mr Schmidt. My aunt, Mrs Peg Waldo, must have bought the store from him in the early 60s. She and her sister, my grandmother, co-owned The Junior Dress Shop in Rolla. Aunt Peg sold her half to my grandmother, Mrs Dorthy Murray, who moved to 611 Pine in Rolla and renamed it The Fashion Shop then Aunt Peg bought Southside. Not much to do with mills but it was great to see mention of her store.
Amazing bit of history! I cannot believe I have never heard of these, I'm a history and trivia buff thank you so much for offering your first hand experience of these what we would now refer to as artifacts lol
I can only imagine what will have been common place in my child hood someone 50 years from now calls an artifact. Time changes so much and so fast throughout the generations. Thank you God bless 💗☺️👋
Thank you for the detail and the pictures. Seven plus decades ago I used these in St. Louis. Very well done article.
I have a Missorry token tax coin I will like to know how much it worth thanks
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