Veto killing tax credits for legal marijuana businesses unlikely to be overridden

Despite a push from industry lobbyists, don’t expect the veto of SB226 to be overridden in Veto Session

SB226 was originally filed in the Senate and Senate Majority Leader Dave Schatz recently spoke on the issue, telling the News Tribune, “If there’s something that we’re going to override the governor on, it would have to be a consensus majority among Republicans that they would want to go down that path.”

At this time, the most likely scenario is that leadership will elect not to attempt an override on SB 226 and will reintroduce industry-friendly language as separate legislation next session.

The marijuana industry-friendly language was added to the Senate Bill and was not a primary reason for its veto, with that in mind it appears likely to both pass the legislature and the governor’s desk if introduced again next year.

With little significant progress on the federal side, marijuana businesses can expect another year of business-related expenses with little to no tax relief.

SB226 contains amended text introduced by Sen. Andrew Koenig, R-Manchester, that would allow Missouri’s legal marijuana businesses to deduct the expenses disallowed from their federal returns, bringing them in line with other businesses operating in the state. 

That language reads as:

(12) For taxpayers authorized to conduct business under Article XIV of the Constitution of Missouri, the amount that would have been deducted from the computation of the taxpayer’s federal taxable income if such a deduction were not disallowed under 26 U.S.C. Section 280E, as in effect on January 1, 2021, because of the status of marijuana as a controlled substance under federal law.

Full text of the bill: http://www.senate.mo.gov/21info/pdf-bill/tat/SB226.pdf