Kraus: A Tax Cut for Struggling Families

Knowing that many families are struggling to pay the bills, I filed legislation, HB 1227, to help them out by raising the state dependency exemption.   Last week, this bill was heard in the Committee for Tax Reform.

Currently, Missouri allows a dependency exemption from state income taxes of $1,200 for each qualified child.  My bill would increase the exemption to $2,000 for each dependent claimed by a resident.

Even though the cost of living has greatly increased, this exemption has not been raised for over ten years.  At that time, it was also raised by $800.  Increasing the amount would put Missouri in line with adjoining states such as Kansas, where the exemption is $2050, and Illinois, where the exemption is $2000.  It would still be significantly below the federal exemption of $3650.

Many families work hard to bring home a paycheck, but still have difficulty paying for all of the things that their children need.  This bill would allow families to keep more of their hard-earned money to spend on groceries, school supplies, and children's clothing.

It is worth noting that no special interests were represented in any testimony before the Tax Reform Committee.  It was simply your representative at the microphone, presenting legislation to help families in these difficult times.  I am so fortunate to be able to represent District 48 in the House of Representatives and have the opportunity to fight for the taxpayer.

Jobs Creation and Retention

The House Committee on Job Creation and Economic Development, on which I serve, has been one of the most active committees by far this session.  We have made jobs a first and foremost priority for Missouri, and it shows in our level of effort.  We started meeting even before session began and have continued to meet at least once, and often twice, a week.  Below are the bills that have been heard so far in this committee.  You can click on the bill number to learn more about the content of the legislation.

• HB 1511, which establishes the Missouri Science and Innovation Reinvestment Act and the Missouri Science and Innovation Authority.
• HB 1512, which establishes provisions to encourage the investment in and the development of technology-based early stage Missouri businesses.
• HB 1635, which is designed to create jobs by fostering partnerships between municipalities and institutions of higher education and is also known as the Missouri Jobs for the Future Act.
• HB 1684, which establishes the Missouri Business First Act that allows for the authorization of increased tax credits, withholding retentions, or other benefits for certain Missouri business expansion.

We will be hearing five more bills tonight.  With Missouri's unemployment rate at around 9.6 percent, we cannot afford to wait around for solutions to appear.  We must actively seek to create them, and we are doing just that.

House Says No to Raising Taxes

In December, Governor Nixon's State Tax Commission proposed increasing taxes, by as much as 29 percent, on four categories of high quality agricultural land generally used to grow crops.  Although taxes were decreased on some categories of ag land, as a package, the proposal would have resulted in an 11 percent increase statewide if allowed to go into effect.

The problem is that Missouri farmers are currently carrying some of the highest debt load in the nation and simply cannot afford to pay a property tax increase at this time.  This tax jolt comes after one of the worst farm income years since 1945.

Fortunately, by statute, the General Assembly has the power to disapprove, within the first sixty days of this regular session, the agricultural values as proposed by the State Tax Commission.  In keeping with our pledge to not raise taxes, the House used that power last week to pass a resolution, HCR 7, to disapprove the State Tax Commission's proposed tax increase.  Later in the week, the Senate also passed a similar resolution.

Missouri farmers feed our state, our nation and our world. Raising their taxes does not help to keep farmers in business or our food prices affordable.  That's why I voted for HCR 7.