House acts on budget issues

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A bill to pay for education by raising casino taxes, closing tax loopholes and changing budgetary accounting practices received initial approval Tuesday in the House.

The proposal would raise more than $150 million, which would provide funding increases for public elementary and secondary schools.

Also Tuesday, the House gave initial approval to a $160 million stopgap spending bill to help carry the state's roughly $19 billion budget through June 30, the end of fiscal 2002.

Absent from the Tuesday's education spending legislation was a proposal by Gov. Bob Holden to abolish the $500 ceiling on gamblers' losses per two-hour session at casinos.

The loss-limit measure was removed from the proposal because too few lawmakers supported it, said the bill's sponsor, Rep. James Foley.

The legislation would close loopholes that allow Missouri companies doing business out-of-state to avoid paying state income taxes. It would stop requiring the state to pay interest when tax credits are taken on amended tax returns. And the bill would remove the tax discount for timely filing of employee tax withholdings.

In addition, the measure would let the state use any unclaimed, overcollected sales tax for education, and would create a two-month "amnesty" for payment of overdue taxes without penalty or late fees.