After an amendment that would have made a proposed $500 tax rebate refundable was rejected, House Bill 3021 advanced out of committee this week.
If approved before the legislative session ends in three weeks, the $500 credit, proposed by Rep. Cody Smith (R-Carthage), would be based on a tax filer’s 2021 total annual income tax bill, according to media reports.
“Currently, the way the bill is structured those who are struggling the most with the health and economic consequences of the pandemic would be left out, and those who are most struggling economically, such as seniors living on fixed incomes and lower-earning families,” said Traci Gleason, director of communications and public engagement with the Missouri Budget Project.
Although the House Budget Committee approved the measure, it has not yet been scheduled for a vote by the entire Missouri House.
“The House can still amend it when there is debate on the full floor and then it would be referred to the Senate where it would go through the committee process and be debated there,” Gleason told the St. Louis Record. “So, there are multiple opportunities to include the Missourians who are most struggling to afford gas and put food on the table. The chair did indicate that he wanted to fast track the bill.”
The Chair of the House Budget Committee is GOP Rep. Smith. The Missouri Budget Project argues that the proposal in its current form would give the largest rebates to taxpayers with average annual incomes of $332,000 or higher.
“We want to make it a refundable credit, or simply a payment so that all Missourians are included,” Gleason said. “The way tax credits work is if your tax return says you owe $6, you would get a $6 tax credit. If your tax return says you owe $50, you get a $50 tax credit. A refundable tax credit would basically just mean everybody would actually get the full amount of the $500 tax credit.”
But because of time constraints, Gleason added that there is a chance HB 3021 will not have a chance to be approved by the full House or Senate.
"There are a lot of priorities and there is a lot of legislation that they need to get through," she said. "The Senate is still completing work on its budget, which is something they are constitutionally mandated to do but the legislative process can take a while. So, they're working within that context, which just makes it challenging to get things over the finish line."