By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson expects to announce this week when he will call the legislature back into special session to consider a tax cut measure and reconsider an agricultural tax credit bill.
Parson vetoed a measure to provide a $500 tax rebate to Missourians, stating the legislature needs to consider a permanent income tax cut instead.
Parson vetoed a bill creating new ag tax credit programs and extending existing ones, because the extension was for only two years.
“You can’t even implement the programs in two years,” Parson says. “So, that’s problematic to start off. And this was really a deal done by special interests and lobbyists and people outside the normal arena; by non-farmers.”
Parson wants the ag tax credit programs extended for six years.
Missouri Farm Bureau President Garrett Hawkins says there’s a simple reason why ag groups settled for two years.
“At the end of session, we were willing to take what we could get, so to speak” Hawkins tells KFEQ Ag Dir. Dionne Bertling during an interview. “To make sure that there was something in place.”
Hawkins says he agrees with the governor that the state needs to take a long-term approach to the tax credits. The Farm Bureau is joining the governor in lobbying legislators for the change.
State Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer of Parkville says the two-year extension became problematic.
“We had a series of ag tax credits that got renewed this year,” Luetkemeyer tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “It was a two-year renewal. The ag community had wanted it to be six years. And so, the governor vetoed that two-year renewal and is asking for the full six years that the ag community was wanting during session.”
Luetkemeyer says he supported the $500 tax credits for Missourians, but adds he understands the governor arguing for a more permanent tax cut.
As for the ag tax credits, Missouri Agriculture Director Chris Chinn says that by extending the ag tax credits for only two years, the legislature created problems for many Missouri farmers.
“Some of our next generation cooperatives that are trying to do their equity drives, sometimes it takes up to two years to be able to get the fundraising in place to be able to start building,” Chinn tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “So, that two-tear timeframe may work for some of those business, but it doesn’t work for every business.”
Parson, though, might be taking a big political risk, because the Conservative Caucus in the Missouri Senate blocked the six-year extension during the regular session and might hold its ground in a special session.
Chinn understands the risk, but has faith in the governor.
“You know, if you look at some of the battles that he’s overcome in his career, he has a way of being a negotiator and trying to bring all sides to the table for the best path forward,” Chinn says. “And having a background in agriculture, he wants to make sure that agriculture isn’t settling for less and so it’s really important to him that agriculture be treated fairly.”
The special session is likely to coincide with the annual veto session, this year scheduled for Wednesday, September 14th.
The Missourinet and KFEQ Ag Dir. Dionne Bertling contributed to this article.