93.9 The Eagle – The News and Talk of Columbia, MO
(Missourinet) Missouri’s governor is considering calling a special legislative session this fall in Jefferson City, involving a June Missouri Supreme Court ruling about car sales.
Missouri Governor Mike Parson briefs reporters at the State Fair in Sedalia on August 15, 2019 (Brian Hauswirth photo)
Governor Mike Parson (R) made the announcement at the State Fair in Sedalia on Thursday, in response to questions from Missourinet.
“The special session, we are looking at a couple of issues that we maybe need to be fixed,” Parson says. “We’re going to take a look at that, we’re in that process right now.”
The Supreme Court case is called “Kehlenbrink vs. Department of Revenue”, and involves using the sale proceeds of a vehicle as a credit against the purchase price of a new vehicle when calculating sales tax.
Essentially, the Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that state law unambiguously permits the sale proceeds of only one vehicle as a credit against the purchase price of a new car, for the purposes of calculating sales tax.
“And really, the simple version of it (the Supreme Court’s ruling) is when you trade cars in, for example if you trade two cars in, you get a credit back on those two cars or for that model if you’re buying another one. There was a ruling by the Supreme Court that says you can only do one,” says Parson.
The governor says the ruling impacts about 2,000 to 3,000 Missourians, adding this is money out of their pocket. He emphasizes the special session would be technical, adding that “it would be a very limited special session.”
Governor Parson did not indicate when the possible special session would take place. One possibility would be to coincide with the annual veto session, which will take place on September 11 at the Statehouse.
