County commissioners will vote on establishing new tax provisions in Moniteau in late August.
The state of Missouri passed Senate Bill 190 (SB190), a bill that modifies provisions relating to tax relief for seniors.
According to senate.mo.gov, "This act authorizes a county to grant a property tax credit to eligible taxpayers residing in such county..." However, the decision is to be left to the county before it can be enacted.
The bill identifies three kinds of residents as "eligible taxpayers." The first is someone eligible for social security, the second is someone who has an equitable interest in their home and the third is someone "liable for the payment of real property taxes."
"The amount of the property tax credit shall be equal to the difference between the real property tax liability on the homestead in a given year minus the real property tax liability on such homestead in the year in which the taxpayer became an eligible taxpayer," the bill summary read. "A credit granted pursuant to this act shall be applied when calculating the eligible taxpayer's property tax liability for the tax year. The amount of the credit shall be noted on the statement of tax due sent to the eligible taxpayer by the county collector."
Presiding Commissioner Joe Lutz said Moniteau County commissioners will vote on the bill on Aug. 24. If the county decides not to enact the bill, voters can petition to place it on the ballot in an upcoming election.
Although this would enable tax relief for seniors, some are concerned about SB 190's additional effects on the county if enacted. Daniel Williams, California R-1 School District superintendent, wrote in a report to the school board his concern regarding SB 190 would be that because it freezes taxpayers' tax liability on their homes, certain funds won't make it to the school.
In an interview with the Democrat, Lutz criticized the bill for its vague language, lending itself to that concern.
"The (Missouri Association of Counties) is getting together because nobody really knows what the effects of it are," Lutz said. "Like, if you live in this county, you can do one house here, but you can't do a house there. And if you're able to draw Social Security, well is that Social Security at 62, 65? Is that Social Security on disability where you can be on it at 20? It's too wide-ranging of a bill."
Lutz said the Legislature filed many bills for tax relief. Although he understands why, he expressed the legislation can hurt funding.
"If you as citizens, if you want all of these services, and then turn around and say, 'Well, we want our schools to have this, we want our county to have that...but we want to cut off property taxes for a certain group of people.' Well, there's going to be consequences to doing that. It just depends on what you're willing to live with," Lutz said.
It's easy to be torn on Senate Bill 190, according to Lutz. Although he understands seniors need assistance, others are left unattended to.
"I understand seniors need cuts on property taxes for the ones that don't have the money. But you also look at a lot of seniors and they're the wealthiest people there are. And then you're kind of going, 'Wow, do we cut Joe Blow who's got a lot of stuff and then you have a husband and wife that are in their 20s with three kids struggling to make it.' You know, who's supposed to fit the bill in this society? We're going to nail them for more money to make sure this guy doesn't pay an extra $500? So I'd say there are 100 different ways to look at it. None of them are incorrect. But that's just the way you look at it."