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SECOND REGULAR SESSION
HOUSE BILL NO. 1799
103RD GENERAL ASSEMBL Y
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENT A TIVE MA TTHIESEN.
4103H.01I JOSEPH ENGLER, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
T o amend chapter 67, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to reductions of local
tax rates.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Chapter 67, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be
2 known as section 67.1 1 1, to read as follows:
67.1 1 1. 1. This section shall be known and may be cited as the "T axation
2 Oversight and Reduction Act".
3 2. As used in this section, the following terms mean:
4 (1) "Combined pr operty tax rate", the total rea l or personal pro perty tax rate,
5 or both, set by a political subdivision that levies real or personal pr operty taxes, or both,
6 excluding any tax rate set to pay the interes t and principal on outstanding bonds or for
7 debt service purposes, that is necessary to finance and balance the political subdivision's
8 annual budget;
9 (2) "Local election authority", a political subdivision's election authority as
10 established in section 1 15.015;
11 (3) "T axpayer", a res ident of a political subdivision in which a question is
12 submitted under this section.
13 3. A taxpayer may submit a petition to the local election authority with
14 jurisdiction over a political subdivision for the red uction of the political subdivision's
15 combined pro perty tax rate as pr ovided in this section.
16 4. Reductions of the combined pr operty tax rate occurring under this section
17 shall be subject to the following limitations:
EXPLANA TION — 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.
18 (1) No re duction shall exceed five percen t of the combined pro perty tax rate in
19 effect on the day the question is submitted to the voters, except that if the maximum
20 authorized levy is mor e than five perce nt higher than the curr ent tax rate ceiling, the
21 r eduction per centage submitted to the voters may be equal to the per centage necessary
22 to redu ce the maximum authorized levy to be equal with the curr ent tax rate ceiling;
23 (2) No r eduction shall be submitted to the voters of the political subdivision mor e
24 fr equently than four years fr om the date of the last question submitted to the voters
25 under this section; and
26 (3) No redu ction shall apply to any portion of a combined pr operty tax rate that
27 is set to pay the interes t and principal on outstanding bonds or for debt service
28 purposes.
29 5. (1) A taxpayer who desir es to seek a redu ction of the taxpayer's political
30 subdivision's combined prop erty tax rate under this section shall notify the political
31 subdivision's local election authority in person that the taxpayer intends to submit a
32 petition under this section. The taxpayer shall prov ide the local election authority with
33 a copy of the prop osed petition. Upon notification, the local election authority shall:
34 (a) Notify the taxpayer that signatur es are req uired to accompany the petition;
35 (b) Calculate the minimum req uired number of signatur es the taxpayer needs to
36 submit with the petition;
37 (c) Calculate the total costs for verifying the minimum re quir ed number of
38 signatur es;
39 (d) Pr ovide the taxpayer with written or electr onic verification of the number of
40 signatur es r equir ed to be submitted with the petition to have the question placed on the
41 ballot; and
42 (e) Notify the taxpayer of the date by which the taxpayer shall submit the
43 petition and the signatures for the question to be placed on the ballot.
44 (2) A taxpayer who submits a petition under this section shall, at the same time
45 the taxpayer submits a petition for verification, submit signatures of register ed voters in
46 the political subdivision in which the taxpayer seeks a red uction of the combined
47 pr operty tax rate. The minimum r equir ed number of signatur es accompanying the
48 petition shall be equal to five perc ent of the number of reg istered voters who voted in the
49 most r ecent election of members for the political subdivision's governing body . Each
50 signatur e shall be accompanied by a legible listing of each signer's printed name and
51 place of re sidence as contained in the pr ecinct regi ster maintained by the local election
52 authority with jurisdiction over the signer's place of res idence.
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53 (3) No signature submitted with a petition shall be counted under this section
54 unless the local election authority verifies that the signatur e is the signatur e of a
55 r egister ed voter of the political subdivision in which the question will be on the ballot.
56 (4) Each local election authority in this state shall establish and post notice of a
57 r easonable fee per signatur e that the local election authority may charge for the costs of
58 verifying signatur es under this section. The fee shall not exceed fifty cents per
59 signatur e. The total amount of the costs for verifying the signatures shall not exceed the
60 pr oduct of the minimum requ ired number of signatur es under subdivision (2) of this
61 section multiplied by the fee per signatur e established by the local election authority .
62 (5) At the same time the taxpayer submits a petition with signatures , the
63 taxpayer shall r emit to the local election authority the costs for verifying the
64 accompanying signatures .
65 6. (1) If a local election authority receiv es signatures and a petition to submit the
66 question of whether to re duce a political subdivision's combined prop erty tax rate under
67 this section and verifies that each signature and the petition satisfies all r equir ements of
68 this section, the local election authority shall submit the question of whether to red uce
69 the combined prop erty tax rate as pr ovided by the petition to the regi stered voters of the
70 political subdivision on the next general municipal election day as established in section
71 1 15.121.
72 (2) The question submitted shall be in substantially the following form: "Shall _
73 _____ (insert political subdivision name) red uce the total tax rate levied and imposed in
74 ______ (insert political subdivision name) by ______ (insert per centage) perc ent?".
75 (3) If a majority of the regi stered voters of the political subdivision voting on the
76 question appr ove the r eduction of the combined pro perty tax rate, the political
77 subdivision shall red uce the combined pr operty tax rate by the per centage appr oved by
78 the re gistered voters voting on the question. If a majority of the regi stered voters of the
79 political subdivision voting on the question r eject the re duction of the combined
80 pr operty tax rate, no r eduction as described in the petition shall occur .
✔
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