Legislative session comes to a close Friday; corporate tax plan bill up for vote

Lawmakers face a 6 p.m. Friday deadline to pass bills during the annual regular legislative session.

As of Friday morning, 110 bills are on record as truly agreed and passed. The number is up compared to the 2017 legislative session, which had 76 bills truly agreed and passed; the governor signing 68 of them.

The Senate worked late Thursday to pass a corporate tax rate cut on a vote of 23-9.

Under the plan that is heading to the House, the corporate rate would drop to 4 percent, down from 6.25 percent.

Lawmakers late Thursday also pushed through a bill to cut the individual income tax rate for most residents from 5.9 percent to 5.5 percent in 2019. The rate would then gradually decrease to 5.1 percent. The bill also would reduce a federal income tax deduction.

HB 2540, sponsored by Speaker Pro Tem Elijah Haahr, will drop the individual income tax rate from 5.9 percent to 5.5 percent.

“These are common sense, fiscally responsible, bold solutions that will lower the overall tax burden on Missouri families and businesses,” Haahr wrote in a news release Thursday evening. “Witnessing the economic surge following passage of the federal 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the evidence is clear that reducing taxes benefits American families.”