General Assembly Ends Taxation on Social Security

by Brian L. Baker

Famous western actor and humorist Will Rogers once said, “The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets.”

Missouri is about to change the view that government just wants more and more. The Missouri Legislature has voted to eliminate a tax that has become a burden to many of our senior citizens. It is time to give our seniors and military personnel the break they deserve.

I am proud to announce that today the Missouri General Assembly gave final approval of tax relief to Missouri’s seniors. The tax cut on social security, House Bill 444, was a top priority for Governor Blunt and the Legislature.

House Bill 444, the Senior Tax Justice Act, provides tax relief to thousands of Missouri’s seniors by phasing in the state income tax exemption on Social Security benefits over six years. The legislation would also provide relief for teachers, firefighters, police officers, military personnel, and federal employees.

Created in 1935, Social Security was designed to provide financial security to Americans during their retirement years. Men and women worked diligently and paid their taxes in the hope that one day they would be able to enjoy their retirement years without the fear of having to struggle to make ends meet.

Unfortunately for retirees in our state, this dream of financial security has been impaired because of a needless and unfair tax on their benefits. Missouri has the dubious distinction of being one of only 15 in the nation that places a tax on Social Security benefits. In essence, we are taxing retirees on benefits for which they spent decades working and paying taxes to earn.

It is unfair to place this additional financial burden on our seniors. Many of them struggle to make ends meet with the meager benefits they receive. After paying for housing, food and medical services there is not much left to give back to the government. And yet, we ask them to bear this financial burden each and every month.

The good news is that our re-energized economy now gives us the opportunity to correct this injustice. The decisions we have made during the past few years have brought government spending down, eliminated a great deal of waste and fraud from our system, and helped to create nearly 50,000 new jobs in our state. The result is that, without any sort of tax increase, we have turned billion dollar shortfalls into a projected budget surplus of $300-500 million.
This money does not belong to the government. It belongs to the people of this state. And it makes perfect sense to give the money back to the Missourians who have done the most for our state – our seniors. For their decades of work and service to our state we owe them the fair and just treatment that is inherent in our plan to eliminate a tax that never should have existed.

Approximately a quarter of a million Missourians over the age of 65 are being taxed on their Social Security benefits. The resulting revenue generated by the tax is in the range of $100-105 million. With our projected surplus we can easily afford to make good on our promise to help seniors by stopping this program and giving them back their money.

Further, we have enough of a surplus to help our veterans and military personnel. Our veterans have given their blood to serve our nation and their families have given their tears. It is time that we cease taxing military pensions and aid our veterans. It is a small price to pay for that sacrifice they make.

In the end, it’s not a question of dollars and cents. It is a question of right and wrong. This week we did the right thing for senior citizens, military personnel, and retired teachers.