The checks are in the mail, says the Missouri Department of Revenue about taxpayers’ refunds.
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Citizens across Missouri will begin receiving their portion of a $178 million statewide revenue refund as early as this week. The refunds (the fourth round of revenue refunds made directly to citizens in the past three years) will be mailed by ZIP codes starting on the eastern side of the state.
The refunds, appropriated earlier this year by the Missouri Senate and House, will be made in addition to tax cuts approved over the last three years by lawmakers. The revenue refund, contained in Article X of the Missouri Constitution, was approved by voters statewide in 1980.
“It has been a very prosperous time for both the state and our citizens,” Senate President Pro Tem Ed Quick, D-Liberty, said. “The quality of state services is at an all-time high, unemployment is at an all-time low, and revenue refunds are nearing the $1 billion mark.”
After voters approved Article X in 1980, it took 15 years before revenue collections reached the constitutional limits. In 1996, lawmakers passed legislation setting up a system for making refunds.
When current refunds are complete, Missouri will have refunded a total of $873.9 million directly to taxpayers. In addition, another refund expected next year is already projected to total $98.3 million.
Under the state constitution, the refunds are made pro rata; the more taxes paid, the larger the refund received. Citizens this year can estimate their refunds to be about 4.9 percent of the amount they paid in state income taxes last April.
These refunds are in addition to a three-year series of tax cuts approved by state lawmakers to reduce taxes in Missouri by more than $630 million per year. These tax cuts include eliminating the state sales tax on groceries, tripling the deduction allowed for dependents, increasing the personal income tax exemption by $900, reducing franchise taxes on corporations, increasing dependent deductions for the elderly and increasing Circuit Breaker tax credits for elderly citizens and citizens with disabilities.
“Tax cuts are preferable to refunds, because citizens get to keep their money instead of having it returned to them,” Quick said. “For the last three years, citizens in Missouri have been able to have both tax cuts and revenue refunds.”
Revenue refunds will now total $873.9 million, in addition to $630 million in annual tax cuts, which adds up to more than $1.5 billion in annual tax relief and total revenue returned to the citizens of Missouri.