Missouri lawmakers send farmer tax credits to Parson’s desk as special session nears end

The Missouri Senate on Tuesday sent a set of agricultural tax credits to Gov. Mike Parson’s desk, signaling the likely end of the General Assembly’s slow-moving special session on tax cuts.

The bill, approved by the House last week, passed the Senate on a bipartisan vote of 26-3. The proposal approves 10 agriculture-related tax credits. The credits will be in place for six years, rather than the two years approved by the legislature earlier this year.

Parson, a Republican with a background in cattle farming, is expected to sign the legislation later this week.

“I support this legislation because I recognize that the agriculture industry touches every Missourian’s life and that it is appropriate for the state to intervene in some ways to support our farmers,” state Sen. Lauren Arthur, a Kansas City Democrat, said on the floor Tuesday. Arthur, however, said the legislature wasn’t doing enough for other industries like childcare.

She said she was frustrated that the GOP-controlled General Assembly’s solution for ongoing inflation was to cut taxes.

State Sen. Mike Moon, an Ash Grove Republican who voted against the bill, unsuccessfully tried to amend the legislation to bar foreign-owned entities from getting the tax credits. Some in the legislature have criticized the bill because they argue it would benefit foreign companies who have bought up Missouri farmland.

“We want to protect Missouri farmland, our families who come after us want to make sure that it stays in the hands of Missourians,” Moon said on the floor Thursday. “Is there anything that we can do to disincentivize them coming in and taking up usable, tillable land and protect Missourians who might come after us?”

The tax credits are designed to help various companies in the agriculture industry, ranging from metal processing facilities and urban farms to gas stations that sell an ethanol blend.

For example, the gas station tax credit would send a 5-cents-per-gallon credit to gas stations that sell a blend of ethanol. The legislation would also exempt certain farm equipment, including utility vehicles, from sales taxes.

The agricultural credits are part of Parson’s special session call, which also included an income tax cut. The General Assembly last week sent Parson a bill that would lower individual income taxes from 5.3% to 4.95% starting next year.

The Republican governor called for the special session after vetoing two tax-related proposals earlier this year.