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Missouri Missouri Legislature Public Policy

Missouri Senate Votes to Slash Historic Rehab Tax Credit

From Deb Sheals of the Alliance for Investment, Jobs and Preservation

The Missouri Senate just passed a bill that will cap the historic tax credit program at $75 million per year, with no small deal exemption. This is a drastic cut from the current cap of $140 million. The bill is the Senate Substitute for HB1865, sponsored by Sen. Lembke.

Even though the House has already passed HB1285 to extend sunsets for many social service tax credits due to expire this year, several senators refused to allow those programs to continue unless the historic program was slashed, and the bill was passed out of the Senate with the new cap.

Sens. Keaveny, Schaffer, and Curls were stalwart supporters of the Historic program.

The bill will now go to the House for consideration. We still have strong support in the House and are hopeful that they will not take this up, but this is a hot issue and it’s the end of the session, so about anything goes.

It’s really unfortunate that a few senators feel the need to hold good social programs hostage for this. At a time when unemployment in the construction industry is well above 14%, we need programs that stimulate construction activity, and we all know the historic credit does that quite well. (Stats from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

We will be watching this very closely, obviously, and will keep you in the loop.

As always, let your legislators know how you feel about this, especially those in the House of Representatives. Good things come to squeaky wheels.

One reply on “Missouri Senate Votes to Slash Historic Rehab Tax Credit”

Aah, yes, the rural bumpkin Repuke contingent in the MO Leg strikes again. But then again, the modern Movement Conservative isn’t swayed by such fiddling trifles such as facts and statistics. Nor do they care about working people, though they do periodically throw out some fine-sounding nostrums for show. I guess “family values” doesn’t include keeping a family in a home, with a good-paying job, with sufficient funds left over for a vacation, or buying all of the stuff which makes the average citizen a job creator. ‘Cos, well, demand is what creates jobs, not money from some self-acclaimed Job Creator(tm). Of course, the goal of Movement Conservatism is to eliminate or defund every government program which benefits and aids us, the average working person. Including Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Oh, and child labor laws, food and drug purity laws, all of the various acts and regs which are largely responsible for preventing corporate actors from poisoning, enslaving, or out’n’out killing us. Ironically, every time we buy something (which used to guarantee a job was created here in the US), we essentially pay for our own demise as a middle class, thanks to the Citizens United decision @ SCOTUS.

America, F*** Yeah!

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