New Gov. Mike Parson said he has no plans to reinstate a popular low-income housing tax credit program.
In November 2017, the Missouri Housing Development Commission voted to cut the program, a move led by then-Gov. Eric Greitens’ appointments to the commission. The only dissenting members of the commission then were Parson, who was lieutenant governor at the time, and John Hensley, who was standing in for Missouri Treasurer Eric Schmitt. With Parson’s inauguration as governor last week, housing developers were hoping for a quick restoration of the program.
“We’re not going to be issuing any low-income tax credits this year,” the governor said in a Tuesday news conference. “What I will do is that I will develop a commission that will truly do a study. We’ll get some good people on there and we’re going to talk and see how we’re going to reform that. It will be reformed. For low-income housing to come back, let me make that clear, to even have a shot at returning, we’re going to have to have total reform.”
In January 2017, Greitens created a committee to study how taxes could be reformed in Missouri, including the state’s system of tax credits. That committee suggested transforming the tax credit program into a low- or no-interest loan program. That suggestion did not gain traction in the legislature in 2018.
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