The legislative dance begins | Tax Credit Archives | Informative Articles | Missouri Tax Credits

As expected, the Missouri legislature had begun its annual ritual of trying to restrict the Missouri historic tax credit program. After just instituting a cap of $140 million of Missouri historic tax credits per year at the end of the last session, the subject is being debated again. The Missouri Senate is trying to get SB 728 out of committee. This bill is intended to subject Missouri historic tax credits to an annual appropriations process. This sounds fiscally prudent at first blush, but would be a disaster for the Missouri historic tax credit program. Most developers need a bank to provide a bridge loan for the Missouri historic tax credits as cash is needed throughout the project. If there is any uncertainty about the issuance of the Missouri historic tax credits at the end of the project, there will be no bridge loans available. This will prevent most if not all of the historic tax credit deals from getting started. Why take all of that risk to find out that the legislature will not provide one of the key financing components.

The Missouri Coalition for Historic Preservation and Economic Development, a group organized to protect the Missouri historic tax credit, testified before the Government Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Committee at its February 4th hearing.