The Missouri Senate gave an initial approval this week to a personal property tax cut that looks to counteract the recent jump in used car evaluations.
The bill has seen multiple forms in past years and this year's session. Floor debate made it clear the current bill could see revisions and compromise all the way up to a final passage.
Currently, personal property is taxed at 33.3 percent of its value. Under legislation sponsored by Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, the personal property would initially be taxed at 31 percent of its value.
The bill also sets up a 10-year depreciation scale for personal property. The scale depreciates the property value every year until after 10 years from manufacturing. After that point, the owner would be exempted from personal property taxes on the property.
Advocates of the change pointed out that some car owners saw that their tax bill went up in recent years despite owning the same car because used car values rose during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sen. Denny Hoskins, R-Warrensburg added farming equipment to the 10-year depreciation scale via an amendment. Farm equipment is already taxed at a much lower rate but has no 10-year depreciation scale.
Much of the discussion around the bill revolved around how the cuts to personal property taxes will impact local counties and municipalities.
Sen. Mike Cierpiot, R-Lee's Summit, criticized the legislation during debate. He has filed his own bill on residential property taxes but expressed worry about the impact of the personal property tax cut as it is currently written.
"If we kill the counties, we don't get a second bite of the apple," Cierpiot said.
The most vocal opposition to the bill came from Sen. Doug Beck, D-Affton. Beck offered multiple amendments to make sure counties did not lose funding. He focused on how local police and fire departments could lose funding.
Eigel countered by pointing to the fact that many counties' revenues have never been higher also saying that funding for services will not be majorly impacted by these cuts.
Beck's amendments would have made the state fund the gap municipalities would lose due to the cut. They were voted down by a roll call vote.
Sen. Barbara Washington, D-Kansas City; Sen. Steven Roberts, D-St. Louis; and Sen. Angela Mosley, D-Florissant, offered amendments to exempt their districts from the tax cut. They cited their already underfunded school systems as reasons for the exemption.
Washington said that personal property taxes are vital to keep the school systems in her district at least to status quo. All three of the senators' proposed exemption amendments were voted down.
The work of the Missouri News Network is written by Missouri School of Journalism students and editors for publication by Missouri Press Association member newspapers.