JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - A proposed tax break for large laundry and dry cleaning businesses has been vetoed by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon for the second straight year.
Nixon announced the veto Friday while criticizing the projected $4 million loss of state and local revenues that would have occurred under the bill.
The legislation would have waived sales taxes on equipment, soap, chemicals, electricity and other items used to clean clothes, but only for businesses that handle at least 500 pounds of clothes per hour and 60,000 pounds per week.
The Democratic governor said the bill passed by the Republican-led Legislature was an unfair expansion of existing sales tax breaks for manufacturers. He noted that smaller laundries wouldn't have benefited. And he said cleaning clothes is not the same thing as manufacturing a product.
Republican Sen. Will Kraus, the bill's sponsor, reacted with a press release stating commercial laundries held this tax exemption for years until a court decided the rule did not apply to the businesses.
"When taxes are levied by court rulings, it raises costs for businesses and those costs are passed onto consumers," Kraus stated. "These tax law reinterpretations hurt job creators and taxpayers, as well as Missouri's economy."