93.9 The Eagle – The News and Talk of Columbia, MO
Missouri’s Republican governor met separately with GOP leaders in the Senate and House on Tuesday in Jefferson City, discussing the upcoming special session on tax cuts and farm tax credits.
House Speaker Pro Tem John Wiemann (R-O’Fallon) is confident the House will support both bills, including Governor Mike Parson’s call for the largest tax cut in state history. Wiemann notes Missouri is seeing record revenues.
“The devil is in the details in how we get to that number but if there’s anytime that Missouri has a chance to reduce taxes given the amount of (tax revenue) money that we have available to us, I think this is the time to do it,” Wiemann says.
Under Parson’s plan, the first $16,000 in earned income for Missouri single filers and the first $32,000 for joint filers would be tax-free.
Pro Tem Wiemann also says his chamber will deliver the votes to support the governor’s proposal for a six-year extension of agricultural tax credits. Wiemann says the House has been consistent.
“The ag bill will certainly pass out of the (Missouri) House with a six-year sunset provision, which is what we did before. So I suspect we’ll do that again, we’ll send that out and over to the Senate,” Wiemann tells 939 the Eagle.
The governor has called a special session for the issue, after he vetoed legislation from State Sen. Jason Bean (R-Holcomb) that would have extended the farm tax credits for two years. Governor Parson says two-year extensions are problematic.
House Speaker Rob Vescovo (R-Arnold), Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz (R-Sullivan) and Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden (R-Columbia) were some of the lawmakers who met with the governor at the Statehouse on Tuesday. Leader Rowden is optimistic.
“We certainly support the concept of cutting taxes for Missourians and supporting our agriculture partners throughout the state. We have some work left to do to get this package to a good place, but Governor Parson is committed to partnering with legislative leadership to try and get it done,” he says.
