(Chillicothe) — One of KMAland’s Missouri lawmakers says it’s likely too soon to say what form of tax relief will come from the upcoming legislative session.
That’s according to Senate elect and current State Representative Rusty Black, who currently represents the state’s 7th House District, which includes Grundy, Linn, and Livingston counties. In the 2022 session, Missouri lawmakers passed an income tax cut that will lower income tax rates from 2022’s 5.3% to 4.95% in the first year and by 0.1% each year following until it reaches 4.5%. Three days into the pre-filing period for the 2023 session earlier this month, of the nearly 700 bills that were pre-filed, almost 10% had to do with some form of taxation. However, Black says ideas are still coming in from all perspectives.
“It could be anything from property taxes to income tax, corporate income tax, and personal income tax, ectara,” said Black. “And that is consistent since I’ve been in the legislature — people looking at tax policy and making tweaks with some of them large and some of them small.”
However, Black says he believes property taxes will be one of the earlier priorities for the legislature to review, particularly regarding how vehicles are valued.
“Whenever they got their property tax bill this year with the increase that happened on vehicles in our state, that caused a lot of stress within our state,” he said. “So, I think there may be something done or looked at about property taxes when it comes to vehicle pricing.”
Other proposals include House Joint Resolution 17, which would put a freeze on senior citizens’ property taxes. Several bills have also been filed regarding various sales tax exemptions for particular products and repealing the fuel tax approved and signed into law in 2021.
Additionally, this will be the first legislative session with recreational marijuana use legal in Missouri after voters passed Amendment 3 in the November general elections. However, despite a Republican supermajority in the state House and Senate, Black says there is little the legislature can do to adjust the constitutional amendment.
“Without a doubt, there are things that are going to be found in that language that need to be dealt with from the legislative side,” said Black. “But as that amendment went into the consitution, there’s a very limited number of fixes or changes that the legislature can actually do.”
However, Black calls upon various state departments to ensure the new laws are as effective and safe as possible.
“The Department of Health and Senior Services, the different parts of law enforcement within our state, they’re going to have to work through those bills and come up with things that the legislature can possibly do to help them be able to manage this better,” Black explained. “Then we’ll have to try to get those items passed and put into law, to match what was put in the constitution.”
Black was recently elected to the Senate’s 12th District, which covers a good portion of northwest Missouri, including Atchison, Holt, Nodaway, and Worth Counties. The 2023 Missouri Legislative Session begins on January 4th. Black was a recent guest on our “Morning Line” program, and you can hear the full interview here:
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