HCS SS SB 1248 -- SCHOOL FUNDING

SPONSOR:  Mathewson (Foley)

COMMITTEE ACTION:  Voted "do pass" by the Committee on
Miscellaneous Bills and Resolutions by a vote of 6 to 4.

This substitute:

(1)  Authorizes a tax amnesty program allowing taxpayers to pay
various back taxes owed prior to December 31, 2001, during the
period of August 1, 2002, through September 30, 2002;

(2)  Repeals the compensation to employers for timely filing of
state income tax withholding until January 1, 2006;

(3)  Eliminates interest on tax credit carrybacks;

(4)  Prohibits refunds of sales taxes to retailers without
crediting the original purchasers, except that it allows
over-collections of less than $1,000 to be refunded not to exceed
this threshold in aggregate over a five-year period; the
substitute also permits taxpayers to sue the state on behalf of a
class of all taxpayers for refunds of sales taxes which have been
incorrectly or illegally collected;

(5)  Requires the State Gaming Commission to report on the
admission fee increase for excursion gambling boats necessary to
fund a 3% pay increase for all state employees;

(6)  Changes the adjusted gross receipts tax paid by excursion
gambling boats to a graduated system.  The percentage going to
the local jurisdiction will remain the same at 2%; the portion
going to the state will range from 14%-28%, increasing with
adjusted gross receipts;

(7)  Increases the admission fee charged against an excursion
gambling boat for each patron entering an excursion gambling boat
from $2 to $3;

(8)  Allows interest to be paid on state tax refunds only if
payment is delayed for more than 120 days;

(9)  Disallows non-Missouri source income for corporate income
tax; and

(10)  Requires the State Treasurer each calendar quarter to
calculate an annual rate of interest equal to the average rate of
return on all funds invested by the State Treasurer.  This
calculated interest rate will be forwarded to the Department of
Revenue and other applicable agencies and will be applied to
situations for which the State of Missouri pays interest to
entities on various overpayments received by the state.  Under
current law, interest applied to most overpayments is based on
the adjusted prime rate charged by banks.

The substitute directs all increased revenues resulting from
these changes to fund the state education foundation formula.

The substitute contains an emergency clause.

FISCAL NOTE:  Estimated Net Income to the General Revenue Fund of
$188,571,822 to $188,661,822 in FY 2003, $176,019,265 in FY 2004,
and $178,167,431 in FY 2005.

PROPONENTS:  Supporters say that the substitute would provide a
major revenue increase that is needed to fully fund the education
foundation formula.

Testifying for the bill were Senator Mathewson; and Department of
Revenue.

OPPONENTS:  There was no opposition voiced to the committee.

Mark Pioli, Legislative Analyst

Missouri House of Representatives
Last Updated October 11, 2002 at 9:04 am