RULING WILL AFFECT TAX REFUNDS

In a decision that will affect the state budget, the Missouri Supreme Court has ruled that money from a voter-approved conservation sales tax can't be used to calculate refunds for taxpayers. In a 6-0 ruling, the Supreme Court agreed with the Conservation Federation of Missouri that because voters approved the sales tax in 1976, conservation revenue should be excluded from being refunded under the state's Hancock Amendment.

Officials of Gov. Mel Carnahan's administration said the ruling could force the state to make adjustments in the calculation of total state revenue and could affect budgets of state agencies. How much is unknown. The disputed amount accounts for nearly 2 percent of the revenue that has already been refunded to taxpayers -- roughly $11 million out of about $700 million collected since July 1994.

Two Republican state representatives, insist this ruling means the tax refunds paid to taxpayers the last several years should have been larger. Their argument is that excluding the conservation-tax revenue changes the ratio for calculating the tax refunds and will mandate larger checks to taxpayers -- an additional $51.9 million as against the more than $700 million refunded in recent years.

The interesting question here will be the response of the Carnahan administration. If executive branch officials resist, the result will likely be yet another in the long-running series of court cases over the Hancock Amendment.