(WARRENSBURG, Mo.) – Governor Jay Nixon is scheduled to speak at the Warrensburg Senior Center next week regarding his veto of a bill known as the “Broad-Based Tax Relief Act of 2013.”
Nixon is scheduled to speak at 1 p.m. Tuesday at the Senior Center, which is located inside the Warrensburg Community Center.
He will discuss HB 253 and why he has vetoed the bill. The bill sought to repeal certain sections of state law with five new sections related to the taxation of businesses.
“With a price tag of $800 million, this legislation is an ill-conceived, fiscally irresponsible experiment that would hurt our economy and jeopardize funding for education and other vital public services,” Nixon said in a news release. “Writing a bad check and saying you’ll figure out a way to pay for it later might make sense in Washington, DC and some other states, but it’s not how we do things in Missouri.”
Nixon said the bill would raise taxes on Missourians who take prescription medication. State law exempts prescription drug costs and co-pays from state sales tax. The bill would have repealed this exemption, resulting in an estimated $200 million tax increase on Missourians who take prescription medication, according to the news release.
“Missouri is a low tax state, and we’re going to keep it that way,” Nixon said. “This legislation would increase taxes on seniors’ prescription drugs, while giving special breaks to lawyers and lobbyists. That’s not the way we do things here in the Show-Me State. House Bill 253 costs too much, accomplishes too little, and puts our budget and our economy at risk.”