Missouri House Speaker Pro Tem Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, has announced that his major tax reform legislation will be discussed on the House floor when lawmakers return to Jefferson City from spring break.

Missouri House Speaker Pro Tem Elijah Haahr testifies before the Ways and Means Committee on March 5, 2018 (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Haahr’s bill would reduce Missouri’s highest personal income tax rate from 5.9 to five percent. It also reduces Missouri’s corporate income tax from 6.25 to five percent.

“This bill offers no special giveaways but instead gives Missouri businesses a tax cut and incentivizes them to hire more Missouri workers to meet the workforce needs of our future,” Haahr said this month.

Haahr’s 429-page bill would also put Missouri in line with some other states by indexing vehicle user fees to the cost of inflation.

The Springfield Republican notes the state’s current vehicle license and registration fees were put in statute in 1984, and haven’t changed in more than 30 years.

Haahr says that change would generate about $174 million annually for the state’s road fund, along with about $58 million annually for counties.

The Missouri House Ways and Means Committee approved Haahr’s bill on Monday on a 6-3 vote, with Republicans for and Democrats against.

The committee also voted along party lines Monday to reject an amendment from State Rep. Brandon Ellington, D-Kansas City, to preserve the “circuit breaker” for seniors who rent.

Ellington says the average senior citizen property tax credit for the circuit breaker is $535, and that “these are folks who have worked their entire lives.”

Pro Tem Haahr testifies the circuit breaker was established to help people pay their property taxes, adding that renters don’t pay property taxes.

The Missouri House and Senate are both on spring break. Lawmakers return to the Statehouse on March 26.