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SECOND REGULAR SESSION
HOUSE JOINT
RESOLUTION NO. 139
103RD GENERAL ASSEMBL Y
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENT A TIVE LUCAS.
4890H.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 real property tax exemptions for certain senior citizens.
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Section A. Section 6, Article X, Constitution of Missouri, is repealed and one new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) All property , real and personal, of the state, counties and other
2 political subdivisions, and nonprofit cemeteries, and all real property used as a homestead as
3 defined by law of any citizen of this state who is a former prisoner of war , as defined by law ,
4 and who has a total service-connected disability , shall be exempt from taxation; all personal
5 property held as industrial inventories, including raw materials, work in progress and finished
6 work on hand, by manufacturers and refiners, and all personal property held as goods, wares,
7 merchandise, stock in trade or inventory for resale by distributors, wholesalers, or retail
8 merchants or establishments shall be exempt from taxation; and all property , real and
9 personal, not held for private or corporate profit and used exclusively for religious worship,
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 for schools and colleges, for purposes purely charitable, for agricultural and horticultural
11 societies, or for veterans' or ganizations may be exempted from taxation by general law . In
12 addition to the above, household goods, furniture, wearing apparel and articles of personal use
13 and adornment owned and used by a person in his home or dwelling place may be exempt
14 from taxation by general law but any such law may provide for approximate restitution to the
15 respective political subdivisions of revenues lost by reason of the exemption. All laws
16 exempting from taxation property other than the property enumerated in this article, shall be
17 void. The provisions of this section exempting certain personal property of manufacturers,
18 refiners, distributors, wholesalers, and retail merchants and establishments from taxation shall
19 become ef fective, unless otherwise provided by law , in each county on January 1 of the year
20 in which that county completes its first general reassessment as defined by law .
21 (2) (a) For the purposes of this subdivision, an "age-qualified individual" is
22 defined as an individual who is sixty-five years of age or older , is a r esident of this state,
23 and has been a res ident of this state for ten or mor e consecutive years.
24 (b) The general assembly may pr ovide that a portion of the assessed valuation of
25 the r eal pr operty actually occupied by the owner or owners ther eof as a homestead be
26 exempted fr om the payment of taxes ther eon for an age-qualified individual for any tax
27 year in which the age-qualified individual has a Missouri adjusted gr oss income of one
28 hundr ed thousand dollars or less, or a combined Missouri adjusted gr oss income of one
29 hundr ed fifty thousand dollars or less if the age-qualified individual is married,
30 r egardless of the age of such spouse. The eligibility and income re quir ements shall be
31 subject to modification by general law as pro vided under this subdivision.
32 (c) The r eal prop erty tax exemption pr ovided under paragraph (b) of this
33 subdivision shall extend to the surviving spouse of a deceased age-qualified individual if
34 the spouse is fifty-five years of age or older , has been a r esident of this state for ten or
35 mor e consecutive years, and maintains the same res idence as the deceased age-qualified
36 individual.
37 (d) The general assembly may further define by general law proc edures to verify
38 the age, res idency , and income req uirements , may cap the exemption, and shall monitor
39 the cost of exemptions annually to adjust the cap, income limits, or eligibility criteria to
40 minimize the financial impact upon the state and local government. No taxing authority
41 shall be requ ired to pr ovide such exemption exceeding the limits set by the general
42 assembly .
43 (e) Restitution to the r espective political subdivisions of reve nues lost, if any , by
44 r eason of the exemption, may be partially offset thr ough state-level grants, adjustments
45 to local tax rates, or phased implementation. The general assembly shall establish clear
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46 pr ocedur es for verification, exemption claims, audits to ensure compliance, and other
47 such conditions as may be determined by law .
48 2. All revenues lost because of the exemption of certain personal property of
49 manufacturers, refiners, distributors, wholesalers, and retail merchants and establishments
50 shall be replaced to each taxing authority within a county from a countywide tax hereby
51 imposed on all property in subclass 3 of class 1 in each county . For the year in which the
52 exemption becomes ef fective, the county clerk shall calculate the total revenue lost by all
53 taxing authorities in the county and extend upon all property in subclass 3 of class 1 within
54 the county , a tax at the rate necessary to produce that amount. The rate of tax levied in each
55 county according to this subsection shall not be increased above the rate first imposed and
56 will stand levied at that rate unless later reduced according to the provisions of subsection 3.
57 The county collector shall disburse the proceeds according to the revenue lost by each taxing
58 authority because of the exemption of such property in that county . Restitution of the
59 revenues lost by any taxing district contained in more than one county shall be from the
60 several counties according to the revenue lost because of the exemption of property in each
61 county . Each year after the first year the replacement tax is imposed, the amount distributed
62 to each taxing authority in a county shall be increased or decreased by an amount equal to the
63 amount resulting from the change in that district's total assessed value of property in subclass
64 3 of class 1 at the countywide replacement tax rate. In order to implement the provisions of
65 this subsection, the limits set in section 1 1(b) of this article may be exceeded, without voter
66 approval, if necessary to allow each county listed in section 1 1(b) to comply with this
67 subsection.
68 3. Any increase in the tax rate imposed pursuant to subsection 2 of this section shall
69 be decreased if such decrease is approved by a majority of the voters of the county voting on
70 such decrease. A decrease in the increased tax rate imposed under subsection 2 of this section
71 may be submitted to the voters of a county by the governing body thereof upon its own order ,
72 ordinance, or resolution and shall be submitted upon the petition of at least eight percent of
73 the qualified voters who voted in the immediately preceding gubernatorial election.
74 4. As used in this section, the terms "revenues lost" and "lost revenues" shall mean
75 that revenue which each taxing authority received from the imposition of a tangible personal
76 property tax on all personal property held as industrial inventories, including raw materials,
77 work in progress and finished work on hand, by manufacturers and refiners, and all personal
78 property held as goods, wares, merchandise, stock in trade or inventory for resale by
79 distributors, wholesalers, or retail merchants or establishments in the last full tax year
80 immediately preceding the ef fective date of the exemption from taxation granted for such
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81 property under subsection 1 of this section, and which was no longer received after such
82 exemption became effectiv e.
✔
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