The Missouri Senate spent several hours Tuesday night working on a wide-ranging tax credit bill, which they gave first-round approval to around 3:20 Wednesday morning. The Senate bill would drastically cut incentives for Historic Preservation and low income housing.
Historic Preservation tax credits would be capped at $45 million a year, instead of the current $140 million, and low income Housing incentives would be capped at $50 million a year.
The bill is sponsored by Republican Senator Eric Schmitt of St. Louis County.
“Tax credit reform and finding a way forward on economic development for our state has been clearly identified for a long time as a priority…and so it’s something that we wanted to work on early, it’s February, and I think everybody was committed to that – everybody wanted to work together,” says Scmitt.
The bill would also create a freight forward tax credit for all airports in Missouri, not just Lambert International in St. Louis.
The measure needs one more vote before moving to the Missouri House.