By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Area legislators back Governor Mike Parson’s call to cut the state income tax and say the state budget can handle the $700 million price tag.
Lawmakers will return to the state Capitol in Jefferson City the day after Labor Day and a week before the annual veto session.
State Rep. Bill Falkner of St. Joseph says the state budget is healthy enough to afford cutting the state income tax from 5.3% to 4.8%.
“We’ve got it in the budget,” Falkner tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “We’ve done very, very well on spending money and not spending money and so we’ve got ourselves in a place where I believe we can afford it, yes.”
Falkner says state law already called for a reduction in the state income tax once state revenue exceeded a certain point. He says the governor is merely moving up those tax cuts.
Senate Appropriations Committee chair, Dan Hegeman of Cosby, says the state budget is strong, even without the influx of federal funds to combat the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Hegeman says the Internet sales tax along with increases in other state revenue put Missouri in place to cut taxes.
“The economy’s being doing well,” Hegeman tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “Sales tax revenues are up. We did the Wayfair agreement (Internet sales tax) a couple of years ago and so we’ve had revenue from that coming in. Our sales tax, our use tax, income tax has been up this past year and so the General Revenue fund is very robust right now.”
Hegeman points out the legislature didn’t even budget $1 billion in General Revenue funds this year, more than enough to cover the first year of the tax cut.
This past regular legislative session proved rocky, especially in the Missouri Senate. Members of the Conservative Caucus blocked many pieces of legislation, mounting several filibusters. Hegeman believes that will change in a special session, with the legislature dealing with only two issues.
State Rep. Dean Van Schoiack of Savannah doesn’t believe the legislature will see the roadblocks during the special session put up during the regular session.
“I hope not,” Van Schoiack tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “I’d like to think we could all get together and get along and do what’s good for the people of Missouri. Know there will be some disagreement here and there. I hope it doesn’t turn into anything big. I don’t see any reason for it to do that.”
The special session is scheduled to begin September 6th, the day after Labor Day and a week before the annual veto session. The governor will ask the legislature to approve the state income tax cut as well as revisit a series of agricultural tax credits renewed for two years. The governor vetoed that bill. He wants the legislature to extend the credits for six years.
