An opinion by the Supreme Court of Missouri dashes hopes of business groups and others trying to force the state to issue more than 500-million dollars in additional Hancock Amendment refunds. The court issued an unusually quick opinion in the case heard a week ago.The court has rejected the argument by the business groups that tax credits do not equal tax cuts. The opinion states tax credits reduce revenue to the state treasury and the only circumstance in which tax credits are added to the formula used to calculate Hancock refunds would be when they exceed tax liabilities. The court also overturned the trial court’s ruling that the state recalculate the Hancock Amendment revenue limit by excluding the conservation sales tax.To listen to the arguments before the Supreme Court, browse to: https://www.missourinet.com/SupremeCourt and click on the ARCHIVE link.
