FIRST REGULAR SESSION
94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES GRILL (Sponsor), STORCH, HODGES, LeVOTA, SCAVUZZO, SCHOEMEHL, GRISAMORE, YOUNG, SKAGGS, KUESSNER, JONES (89), SCHOELLER, BURNETT, AULL, HUBBARD, NASHEED, NORR, SMITH (150), PAGE, JETTON, ROBINSON, MEINERS, FALLERT, EL-AMIN, PEARCE, TILLEY, ROORDA, KRATKY, KOMO, MEADOWS, GEORGE, SHIVELY, WILSON (119), SILVEY, BRANDOM, ZWEIFEL, SCHIEFFER, STREAM AND RUZICKA (Co-sponsors).
Read 1st time February 21, 2007 and copies ordered printed.
D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To amend chapter 135, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to a tax credit for stay-at-home parents.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Chapter 135, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be known as section 135.636, to read as follows:
135.636. 1. This section shall be known and may be cited as the "Motherhood/Fatherhood Stay-at-Home Tax Credit".
2. As used in this section, the following terms mean:
(1) "Eligible child", any natural, adopted, or stepchild of a stay-at-home parent if such eligible child is between the ages of newborn to twenty-four months;
(2) "Stay-at-home parent", any married parent of an eligible child if such stay-at-home parent was gainfully employed before the birth or adoption of the eligible child or marriage to a person with an eligible child, who is no longer gainfully employed as a result of the decision to stay at home to provide care for the eligible child, and whose annual salary while the stay-at-home parent was gainfully employed was one hundred thousand dollars or less. "Stay-at-home parent" shall not include any recipient of any public assistance;
(3) "Tax credit", a credit against the tax otherwise due under chapter 143, RSMo, excluding withholding tax imposed by sections 143.191 to 143.265, RSMo;
(4) "Taxpayer", any stay-at-home parent or such parent's spouse whose filing status is married filing combined who is subject to the tax imposed in chapter 143, RSMo, excluding withholding tax imposed by sections 143.191 to 143.265, RSMo.
3. For all taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2007, a taxpayer shall be allowed a tax credit for providing care for an eligible child. The tax credit amount shall be equal to twenty-five percent of the stay-at-home parent's annual salary in the year before the stay-at-home parent terminated gainful employment to become a stay-at-home parent. If the amount of the tax credit issued exceeds the amount of the taxpayer's state tax liability for the tax year for which the credit is claimed, the difference shall not be refundable but may be carried forward to any of the taxpayer's three subsequent taxable years. No tax credit granted under this section shall be transferred, sold, or assigned. The cumulative amount of tax credits which may be issued under this section in any one fiscal year shall not exceed two million dollars.
4. The director of the department of revenue shall establish a procedure by which, from the beginning of the fiscal year until some point in time later in the fiscal year to be determined by the director, the cumulative amount of tax credits are equally apportioned among all taxpayers allowed a tax credit under this section. The director may establish more than one period of time and reapportion more than once during each fiscal year. To the maximum extent possible, the director shall establish the procedure described in this subsection in such a manner as to ensure that taxpayers can claim all the tax credits possible up to the cumulative amount of tax credits available for the fiscal year.
5. Each stay-at-home parent claiming a tax credit under this section shall file an affidavit verifying that such parent is a stay-at-home parent, and shall provide a copy of the most recent W-2 form received before becoming a stay-at-home parent to verify the tax credit amount claimed.
6. The department of revenue may promulgate rules to implement the provisions of this section. Any rule or portion of a rule, as that term is defined in section 536.010, RSMo, that is created under the authority delegated in this section shall become effective only if it complies with and is subject to all of the provisions of chapter 536, RSMo, and, if applicable, section 536.028, RSMo. This section and chapter 536, RSMo, are nonseverable and if any of the powers vested with the general assembly pursuant to chapter 536, RSMo, to review, to delay the effective date, or to disapprove and annul a rule are subsequently held unconstitutional, then the grant of rulemaking authority and any rule proposed or adopted after August 28, 2007, shall be invalid and void.
7. Under section 23.253, RSMo, of the Missouri Sunset Act:
(1) The provisions of the new program authorized under this section shall automatically sunset on December thirty-first six years after the effective date of this section unless reauthorized by an act of the general assembly; and
(2) If such program is reauthorized, the program authorized under this section shall automatically sunset on December thirty-first twelve years after the effective date of the reauthorization of this section; and
(3) This section shall terminate on September first of the calendar year immediately following the calendar year in which the program authorized under this section is sunset.
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