Missouri Governor Jay Nixon’s (D) Tax Credit Review Commission has released its revised list of recommendations.
Some of the original recommendations have been scaled back. The new list calls for shrinking the cap on Historic Preservation tax credits to $90 million, instead of $75 million as proposed two years ago, and reducing the cap on Low Income Housing to $135 million instead of $80 million. The caps for Historic Preservation and Low Income Housing are currently $140 million and $195 million, respectively. The new report also drops the recommendation to put expiration dates on all tax credits.
Former GOP Senator Chuck Gross of St. Charles County co-chairs the commission. He says the reduced recommendations will still save the state much-needed money.
“Last fiscal year there were $629 million in redemptions," Gross said. "The growth rate of those tax credit programs, compared to the growth of general revenue, (are) just going in different directions."
Gross says the next moves are up to both the Governor and the General Assembly.
“Tax credits are eating up general revenue," Gross said. "That (revenue) would otherwise be spent on programs from social services, mental health programs, education programs, prisons, public safety, a lot of the programs that are the heart and soul of what state government does.”
Gross says capping and eliminating tax credits where needed will also help pay for expanding Medicaid and implementing the President’s Affordable Care Act regulations. Missouri’s 2013 legislative session begins next month.
Links to the entire 2012 report, along with a supplemental report and the original 2010 report, can be found here.
