|
Benevolent Tax Credits Bill
Moves to Senate Floor for Debate
|
|
Senate Bill 20, a tax credit bill that encourages donations to food pantries, pregnancy resource centers, and children in crisis centers, and that provides tax credits for improvements to homes for the disabled, passed out of the Senate Jobs, Economic Development and Local Government Committee yesterday by a vote of 10-0. The bill will now be brought to the Senate floor for debate.
|
|
HOW BENEVOLENT TAX CREDITS WORK
|
The pregnancy resource center and food pantry tax credits provide a state income tax credit in the amount of 50% of any donation made to these organizations that help feed the hungry and provide services to women facing unplanned pregnancies. These tax credits expired last year when the general assembly failed to renew them. SB 20 re-establishes these tax credits, along with others that benefit needy Missouri families. They also cap the amount of state funds available for these tax credits available in any given year.
|
|
THE LEGISLATIVE SITUATION
|
This week, SB 20 moved quickly through the Senate committee without any opposition.
In the House, a companion bill (HB 87) sponsored by Eric Burlison (R-Springfield), faced opposition from a representative of NARAL Pro-choice Missouri who testified that pregnancy resource centers provide misleading medical information to women seeking assistance with unplanned pregnancies, and don't refer women for contraception and abortions. The hearing on the bill in the House Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities Committee turned into a debate about abortion rights.
No such debate occurred in the Senate committee, although these issues could come up again when SB 20 is debated on the Senate floor. Senate committee members voting in favor of the bill include: Eric Schmitt (R-Glendale); Bob Dixon (R-Springfield); Will Kraus (R-Lee's Summit); John Lamping (R-Clayton); Gary Romine (R-Farmington); David Sater (R-Cassville); Jay Wasson (R-Nixa); Jolie Justus (D-Kansas City); Ryan McKenna (D-Crystal City); and Jamilah Nasheed (D-St. Louis).
The Missouri Catholic Conference supports re-establishing these tax credits, because these programs use state funds to draw in private donations, bringing help to more needy Missouri citizens with fewer State dollars.
|
| WHAT YOU CAN DO |
- Contact the Senators on the Jobs, Economic Development and Local Government Committee and thank them for their support of SB 20. (see list of Senators voting in favor of the bill, above)
- Contact your Senator (see contact information in upper left corner) and ask him/her to vote for SB 20 when it comes to the Senate floor for debate.
- Forward this e-mail to friends and family members.
- Report back to the MCC on what your senator is saying.
|
