Section 5 General

• Library: Tax Law 2009

The state revenue limit and corresponding refund provision imposed by the Hancock Amendment (or Hancock), Mo. Const. art. X, §§ 16–24, appear in article X, §§ 18-20, of the Missouri Constitution. Section 18(a) limits the amount of taxes that may be imposed by the General Assembly in any fiscal year and provides, in part, that the “general assembly shall not impose taxes of any kind which, together with all other revenues of the state, federal funds excluded, exceed the revenue limit established in this section.”

The state revenue provision is unique because, unlike the tax limit imposed on local governments, it instead imposes a limit on state revenues. The local government tax limit, discussed at length in §§2.19–2.31 below, requires voter approval for tax increases, while the state revenue limit does not explicitly prohibit the General Assembly from raising taxes without voter approval. Rather, under the state revenue limit, the General Assembly may impose a new state tax without voter approval only if the proceeds of the new tax plus existing revenues do not exceed the § 18(a) revenue limit and any “new annual revenues” generated by the new tax do not exceed the § 18(e) limit.

Section 18(a) limits state revenues in each fiscal year to the percentage growth in the income...