Contact: Channing Ansley, (573) 751-0290
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 29, 2014
FACT SHEET:
Local impact of special exemptions and giveaways passed on the final day of session
“This eleventh-hour free-for-all on the final day of session will make it harder for local governments to provide the services Missourians count on,” Gov. Nixon said. “We’re talking about firefighters and cops, libraries and ambulance services, snow plows and health inspectors, public transit and road repair. Missourians deserve an explanation for why legislators rushed through $776 million in special breaks and exemptions on the last day of session, without accounting for even a penny of these costs in the budget they sent to my desk.”
· The legislature passed eight bills on the last day of session that will significantly impact state and local funds: House Bills 1296 and 1865, and Senate Bills 584, 612, 662, 693, 727 and 860.
· These bills contain more than a dozen provisions that would reduce state and local revenue beginning on August 28, including new sales tax exemptions for recreation venues, data storage and processing, used vehicles, supplies and equipment used in electricity generation, and laundries.
· The budget plan passed by the legislature each year is expected to account for any legislation that could impact state revenue, but the budget passed by the General Assembly on May 9 did not account for any of these provisions.
· Most of these provisions impact sales tax collections, and therefore they have a large impact on local tax collections. Existing statute (section 32.087) requires that the base for local sales taxes be the same as the base for state sales taxes and that sales tax exemptions be the same for both.
· In addition to an annual state revenue reduction of $425 million, these provisions would reduce local revenue by an estimated $351 million on an annual basis.
· These reductions would impact cities and counties as well as other taxing jurisdictions including fire protection districts, ambulance districts, and community improvement districts.
An overall summary of the fiscal impact of these provisions is available here.
A breakdown of the fiscal impact on local taxing districts is available here.
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