BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR REFUND CHECKS

House Appropriations Committees are meeting daily in the capitol to work on the biggest budget ever proposed for Missouri state government. While the appropriations committees are hearing testimony from state departments and deciding how much tax money to allocate to various departments and programs.

The Ways and Means Committee has been hearing many bills to provide tax relief. Already, over 50 bills to cut taxes have been referred to the Ways and Means Committee for a hearing and many more tax relief bills will continue to be introduced in the next few weeks. It is certain that some form of tax reduction will be enacted this year to prevent the state from violating the Constitution yet another year.

Speaker Steve Gaw is sponsoring HB 1546 and 1305, Gov. Carnahan's meager proposal known as the Homestead Exemption and Circuit Breaker Bill. This legislation will allow homeowners to claim credit on their state income taxes for their local property taxes.

The tax credit is a paltry flat rate of $35 for singles and $70 for a married couple. Renters are eligible for a credit of 20 percent of their gross rent, not to exceed $35 for singles and $70 for married couples. The legislation also expands the income limits to qualify for existing property tax credits for the elderly, disabled and disabled veterans. This legislation is estimated to reduce tax revenues to the state by approximately $120 million per year.

A bill I co-sponsor with several caucus members is very similar to Gov. Carnahan's bill. The difference is that HB 1340 doubles the amount of the tax credits to $70 for a single tax payer and $140 for a married couple.

Knowing that there is very little chance that this bill will be allowed passage on the House floor, an amendment was defeated by a vote of 13 against to 11 ayes. Every Democrat voted against the additional tax relief and every Republican voted in favor. I will report later on the outcome of the hearings on several other tax proposals.

The Hancock tax refund checks are finally scheduled to be mailed. After waiting for several lawsuits to be settled, our refund checks are finally on their way for 1995 and 1996. The Missouri State Constitution has a limit on the revenue that the state can bring in. If the limit is exceeded, taxpayers get a refund.

In most cases, our area taxpayers will be getting a single check which should be delivered to you around Feb. 23 or 24. This represents the refund for both 1995 and 1996. The state also busted the limit in 1997 and those refunds will be mailed in the fall.

If you have moved since the 1995 and 1996 filing period, you can get your address updated by contacting the Department of Revenue or by calling my office. The state will be mailing out about 250,000 checks a week for nine weeks. The final checks for the state will be mailed the last week in March at which time all two million refunds will have been returned.

Just recently a Cole County Circuit Court ruling says that Gov. Carnahan must count part of the gambling boat admission fees and the law enforcement fees the state collects. These revenues total approximately $79 million for the last three years which will have to be refunded to taxpayers on top of the current refunds.

It is highly likely, however, that Attorney General Jay Nixon will appeal this ruling to the Supreme Court to try and block the refunds and allow the state to keep the money.

If the Supreme Court agrees with the circuit court ruling, then the state will be illegally collecting taxes at an even higher amount that Gov. Carnahan currently predicts. Hence, additional and bigger refunds in the future.

The best, smartest and easiest thing to do is provide real and meaningful tax relief. It is also the right thing to do!

David Schwab is a state representative for the 157th district.