http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-882722.mp3
Kansas City, Mo. – The Missouri Senate has overwhelmingly passed a resolution rejecting the State Tax Commission's move to reassess property values for the state's farmlands.
The State Tax Commission last month recommended raising the productive value of the state's best agricultural land by 29% and lowering values on low-producing lots by 25%. GOP Senator Bill Stouffer says in addition to crop growers, the move would hurt cattle ranchers, even though pasture land assessments would go down.
"The feed for the livestock industry is grown on the other land, and so it's actually going to increase the cost of production, which eventually the livestock producers will pay for, so it's kind of a double-edged sword," said Stouffer
Democrat Joan Bray of St. Louis supports the reassessments. She called the resolution a product of election year politics.
"What's being proposed here is a verymodest increase in an area of taxing that hasn't been increased in a long, long time," said Bray.
The resolution now goes to the Missouri House, which passed its own version Wednesday.