Lawmakers delay meeting for Parson tax cut proposal

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri lawmakers on Wednesday said they are delaying coming back to the state Capitol for work on a proposed income tax cut.

Instead of returning to work next Tuesday -- as GOP Gov. Mike Parson called for -- leaders in the Republican-led Legislature said they'll come back Sept. 14.

After meeting privately Wednesday, House and Senate leaders decided they needed more time to hammer out details with lawmakers behind closed doors.

The special session on tax cuts now is set to begin the same day lawmakers were already planning on returning to the Capitol to consider whether to override Parson's vetoes.

Parson proposed a special session to cut income taxes as an alternative to lawmakers' planned one-time tax refund, which he vetoed in June.

Parson wants lawmakers to cut the top income tax rate from 5.3% to 4.8% and increase the standard deduction by $2,000 for single filers and $4,000 for couples.

Parson specified that, based on the limits in his special session call, lawmakers cannot cut income taxes so deeply that the state loses more than $700 million per year in revenue.