HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 145 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE CATON.
4079H.01I JOSEPH ENGLER, Chief Clerk
JOINT RESOLUTION Submitting to the qualified voters of Missouri an amendment repealing Section 6 of Article X of the Constitution of Missouri, and adopting one new section in lieu thereof relating to property tax exemptions.
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring therein:
That at the next general election to be held in the state of Missouri, on Tuesday next 2 following the first Monday in November, 2026, or at a special election to be called by the 3 governor for that purpose, there is hereby submitted to the qualified voters of this state, for 4 adoption or rejection, the following amendment to Article X of the Constitution of the state of 5 Missouri: Section A. Section 6, Article X, Constitution of Missouri, is repealed and one new 2 section adopted in lieu thereof, to be known as Section 6, to read as follows: Section 6. 1. All property, real and personal, of the state, counties and other political 2 subdivisions, and nonprofit cemeteries, [and] all real property used as a homestead as defined 3 by law of any citizen of this state who is a former prisoner of war, as defined by law, and who 4 has a total service-connected disability, and all personal property of any disabled veteran, 5 as defined under subdivision (2) of subsection 4 of this section, shall be exempt from 6 taxation; all personal property held as industrial inventories, including raw materials, work in 7 progress and finished work on hand, by manufacturers and refiners, and all personal property 8 held as goods, wares, merchandise, stock in trade or inventory for resale by distributors, 9 wholesalers, or retail merchants or establishments shall be exempt from taxation; and all
EXPLANATION — Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in the above bill is not enacted and is intended to be omitted from the law. Matter in bold-face type in the above bill is proposed language. HJR 145 2
10 property, real and personal, not held for private or corporate profit and used exclusively for 11 religious worship, for schools and colleges, for purposes purely charitable, for agricultural 12 and horticultural societies, or for veterans' organizations may be exempted from taxation by 13 general law. In addition to the above, household goods, furniture, wearing apparel and 14 articles of personal use and adornment owned and used by a person in his home or dwelling 15 place may be exempt from taxation by general law but any such law may provide for 16 approximate restitution to the respective political subdivisions of revenues lost by reason of 17 the exemption. All laws exempting from taxation property other than the property 18 enumerated in this article, shall be void. The provisions of this section exempting certain 19 personal property of manufacturers, refiners, distributors, wholesalers, and retail merchants 20 and establishments from taxation shall become effective, unless otherwise provided by law, in 21 each county on January 1 of the year in which that county completes its first general 22 reassessment as defined by law. 23 2. All revenues lost because of the exemption of certain personal property of 24 manufacturers, refiners, distributors, wholesalers, and retail merchants and establishments 25 shall be replaced to each taxing authority within a county from a countywide tax hereby 26 imposed on all property in subclass 3 of class 1 in each county. For the year in which the 27 exemption becomes effective, the county clerk shall calculate the total revenue lost by all 28 taxing authorities in the county and extend upon all property in subclass 3 of class 1 within 29 the county, a tax at the rate necessary to produce that amount. The rate of tax levied in each 30 county according to this subsection shall not be increased above the rate first imposed and 31 will stand levied at that rate unless later reduced according to the provisions of subsection 3. 32 The county collector shall disburse the proceeds according to the revenue lost by each taxing 33 authority because of the exemption of such property in that county. Restitution of the 34 revenues lost by any taxing district contained in more than one county shall be from the 35 several counties according to the revenue lost because of the exemption of property in each 36 county. Each year after the first year the replacement tax is imposed, the amount distributed 37 to each taxing authority in a county shall be increased or decreased by an amount equal to the 38 amount resulting from the change in that district's total assessed value of property in subclass 39 3 of class 1 at the countywide replacement tax rate. In order to implement the provisions of 40 this subsection, the limits set in section 11(b) of this article may be exceeded, without voter 41 approval, if necessary to allow each county listed in section 11(b) to comply with this 42 subsection. 43 3. Any increase in the tax rate imposed pursuant to subsection 2 of this section shall 44 be decreased if such decrease is approved by a majority of the voters of the county voting on 45 such decrease. A decrease in the increased tax rate imposed under subsection 2 of this section 46 may be submitted to the voters of a county by the governing body thereof upon its own order, HJR 145 3
47 ordinance, or resolution and shall be submitted upon the petition of at least eight percent of 48 the qualified voters who voted in the immediately preceding gubernatorial election. 49 4. (1) As used in this section, the terms "revenues lost" and "lost revenues" shall 50 mean that revenue which each taxing authority received from the imposition of a tangible 51 personal property tax on all personal property held as industrial inventories, including raw 52 materials, work in progress and finished work on hand, by manufacturers and refiners, and all 53 personal property held as goods, wares, merchandise, stock in trade or inventory for resale by 54 distributors, wholesalers, or retail merchants or establishments in the last full tax year 55 immediately preceding the effective date of the exemption from taxation granted for such 56 property under subsection 1 of this section, and which was no longer received after such 57 exemption became effective. 58 (2) As used in this section, the term "disabled veteran" shall mean an individual 59 who: 60 (a) Is a resident of this state; 61 (b) Has been separated under honorable conditions from active service in: 62 a. Any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States; 63 b. Any reserve component of the Armed Forces of the United States; 64 c. The Missouri National Guard as defined in 32 U.S.C. Section 101, as 65 amended; or 66 d. Any defense force of this state as described in 32 U.S.C. Section 109, as 67 amended; and 68 (c) Has been certified by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs or its 69 successor agency to be in receipt of disability compensation at the one hundred percent 70 rate as a result of a service-connected disability claim allowed by the United States 71 Department of Veterans Affairs. ✔