As the beginning of the annual veto session nears, there is growing doubt that the veto on a bill dealing with sales taxes on certain vehicle purchases will be overturned.

House Majority Floor Leader Tim Jones (R-Eureka)

The bill would allow the collection of sales taxes on purchases made from private Missourians or made out-of-state. It passed the House with 122 “yes” votes in May, including 44 from Democrats.

Majority Floor Leader Tim Jones (R-Eureka) said this morning that he doesn’t yet know if enough members of his caucus will vote for an override that he would even want the bill brought up on the floor. He adds, he doesn’t “have the faith” that enough House Democrats will vote for an override for it to succeed.

Jones says there is some “great concern” in his caucus about the bill, much of it stemming from the issue raised by the Governor of a tax being raised retroactively. “It’s not something our party is wont to stand upon. I think we have to be realistic about the problem before us and also be cognizant of the fact that even if we were able to override this bill, we may have done nothing other than kick the can down the road because this bill could very easily, I believe, be challenged in court again. It has a constitutional problem.”

Jones says if he can’t find the votes in his caucus for an override, he wants to see Governor Jay Nixon call a special session to address the issue. “I’ll say it right now and I’ll reiterate this after the veto session today. I’ll challenge the Governor to lead for once as the chief executive of this state, call us back into special session, and he can either come up with a proposal to fix this problem or we can engage our experts in this area. I think there’s a number of solutions that would work.

Jones says he believes his caucus is “completely united” in favor of overturning the Governor’s veto of SB 749, a bill that would allow employers and individuals to opt out of insurance coverage for abortion, sterilization and contraception.

The veto session begins at noon.