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SECOND REGULAR SESSION
HOUSE JOINT
RESOLUTION NO. 138
103RD GENERAL ASSEMBL Y
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENT A TIVE LUCAS.
4923H.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 a property tax exemption for disabled veterans.
Be it r esolved by the House of Repr esentatives, the Senate concurring ther ein:
That at the next general election to be held in the state of Missouri, on T uesday 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Section A. Section 6, Article X, Constitution of Missouri, is repealed and one new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. (1) As used in this subsection, the following terms mean:
2 (a) "Disabled veteran", an individual who:
3 a. Is a res ident of this state;
4 b. Has been separated under honorable conditions fr om active service in:
5 (i) Any branch of the Armed For ces of the United States;
6 (ii) Any res erve component of the Armed For ces of the United States;
7 (iii) The National Guard as defined in 32 U.S.C. Section 101, as amended; or
8 (iv) Any defense for ce of this state as described in 32 U.S.C. Section 109, as
9 amended; and
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.
10 c. Has been certified by the United States Department of V eterans Affairs or its
11 successor agency to be in receip t of disability compensation at the one hundred per cent
12 rate as a res ult of a service-connected disability claim allowed by the United States
13 Department of V eterans Affairs, with such disability being permanent and sustained
14 thr ough military action or accident or res ulting fr om disease contracted while in such
15 active service;
16 (b) "Surviving spouse", the living spouse of a deceased disabled veteran as
17 defined under this subdivision.
18 (2) All property , real and personal, of the state, counties and other political
19 subdivisions, and nonprofit cemeteries, [ and ] all real property used as a homestead as defined
20 by law of any citizen of this state who is a former prisoner of war , as defined by law[ , and
21 who has a total service-connected disability ], and all r eal pr operty used as a homestead as
22 defined by law of any disabled veteran or of any surviving spouse of a deceased disabled
23 veteran, subject to the pr ovisions of subdivision (3) of this subsection, shall be exempt
24 from taxation; all personal property held as industrial inventories, including raw materials,
25 work in progress and finished work on hand, by manufacturers and refiners, and all personal
26 property held as goods, wares, merchandise, stock in trade or inventory for resale by
27 distributors, wholesalers, or retail merchants or establishments shall be exempt from taxation;
28 and all property , real and personal, not held for private or corporate profit and used
29 exclusively for religious worship, for schools and colleges, for purposes purely charitable, for
30 agricultural and horticultural societies, or for veterans' or ganizations may be exempted from
31 taxation by general law . In addition to the above, household goods, furniture, wearing apparel
32 and articles of personal use and adornment owned and used by a person in his home or
33 dwelling place may be exempt from taxation by general law but any such law may provide for
34 approximate restitution to the respective political subdivisions of revenues lost by reason of
35 the exemption. All laws exempting from taxation property other than the property
36 enumerated in this article, shall be void. The provisions of this section exempting certain
37 personal property of manufacturers, refiners, distributors, wholesalers, and retail merchants
38 and establishments from taxation shall become effectiv e, unless otherwise provided by law , in
39 each county on January 1 of the year in which that county completes its first general
40 reassessment as defined by law .
41 (3) If the disabled veteran dies, the surviving spouse shall continue to receive the
42 exemption authorized under this subsection, pr ovided that the surviving spouse uses,
43 occupies, and maintains the real pr operty that the disabled veteran was granted the
44 original exemption as his or her homestead and such prop erty is not sold. If the
45 surviving spouse sells the homestead or relo cates so that the re al pr operty is no longer
46 used as a homestead by the surviving spouse, the exemption shall expir e.
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47 2. All revenues lost because of the exemption of certain personal property of
48 manufacturers, refiners, distributors, wholesalers, and retail merchants and establishments
49 shall be replaced to each taxing authority within a county from a countywide tax hereby
50 imposed on all property in subclass 3 of class 1 in each county . For the year in which the
51 exemption becomes ef fective, the county clerk shall calculate the total revenue lost by all
52 taxing authorities in the county and extend upon all property in subclass 3 of class 1 within
53 the county , a tax at the rate necessary to produce that amount. The rate of tax levied in each
54 county according to this subsection shall not be increased above the rate first imposed and
55 will stand levied at that rate unless later reduced according to the provisions of subsection 3.
56 The county collector shall disburse the proceeds according to the revenue lost by each taxing
57 authority because of the exemption of such property in that county . Restitution of the
58 revenues lost by any taxing district contained in more than one county shall be from the
59 several counties according to the revenue lost because of the exemption of property in each
60 county . Each year after the first year the replacement tax is imposed, the amount distributed
61 to each taxing authority in a county shall be increased or decreased by an amount equal to the
62 amount resulting from the change in that district's total assessed value of property in subclass
63 3 of class 1 at the countywide replacement tax rate. In order to implement the provisions of
64 this subsection, the limits set in section 1 1(b) of this article may be exceeded, without voter
65 approval, if necessary to allow each county listed in section 1 1(b) to comply with this
66 subsection.
67 3. Any increase in the tax rate imposed pursuant to subsection 2 of this section shall
68 be decreased if such decrease is approved by a majority of the voters of the county voting on
69 such decrease. A decrease in the increased tax rate imposed under subsection 2 of this section
70 may be submitted to the voters of a county by the governing body thereof upon its own order ,
71 ordinance, or resolution and shall be submitted upon the petition of at least eight percent of
72 the qualified voters who voted in the immediately preceding gubernatorial election.
73 4. As used in this section, the terms "revenues lost" and "lost revenues" shall mean
74 that revenue which each taxing authority received from the imposition of a tangible personal
75 property tax on all personal property held as industrial inventories, including raw materials,
76 work in progress and finished work on hand, by manufacturers and refiners, and all personal
77 property held as goods, wares, merchandise, stock in trade or inventory for resale by
78 distributors, wholesalers, or retail merchants or establishments in the last full tax year
79 immediately preceding the ef fective date of the exemption from taxation granted for such
80 property under subsection 1 of this section, and which was no longer received after such
81 exemption became effectiv e.
✔
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