Current state law allows Missouri counties to freeze property tax increases for homeowners who are eligible for Social Security benefits. On Wednesday, that law is set to change to clarify that homeowners must be at least 62 years old to become eligible.
Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, R-Parkville, said his 2023 law unintentionally left out Missouri homeowners who have pensions.
“Firefighters, police officers, school teachers, are notable examples of individuals who, if they spent their entire career in those professions, they don’t receive Social Security benefits. They receive their retirement from a pension,” he told Missourinet.
His fix is intended to give all seniors the opportunity to get property tax relief, regardless of what retirement income source they have.
“It would be hundreds of thousands of people, because it would be, you know, every person in Missouri who doesn’t receive Social Security benefits. So, every senior that receives a pension instead of Social Security would now be eligible for the property tax freeze under Senate Bill 190,” said Luetkemeyer.
The new law would also prevent Missouri counties who are only allowing a property tax freeze for seniors if their home is valued under a certain amount.
According to Luetkemeyer, his bill would give one discount per household.
“So, you could have a married couple where, let’s say the husband is 62 and the wife is 60, they would still qualify for the senior property tax freeze as long as one of the residents is age 62 or older. And it only applies to one resident,” he said.
The program only applies to residential property – not commercial property.
“One thing we wanted to make sure of is that there wasn’t being an abuse of the system,” said Luetkeyemer. “So, if somebody, for example, owns rental properties, they can’t claim a senior tax credit on their 15 apartments that they own.”
He thinks the bill is friendly to retirees.
“One of the one of the collateral benefits, I guess, if you will, that we may see in the long term in Missouri for Senate Bill 190 is that we may see a lot of seniors decide to stay in Missouri who might otherwise leave for Florida or another state that has, you know, favorable tax laws. They may decide to stay in Missouri. You may have people that decide that they want to relocate, move to Missouri because the tax laws are more favorable.”
For more information about Senate Bill 756, click here.
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