Missouri Lawmakers Set to Take On Nixon Tax Cut Veto

JEFFERSON CITY — Win or lose, Missouri Republicans want a vote on tax cuts.

From the moment Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed a roughly $700 million tax proposal passed by a GOP-dominated General Assembly earlier this year, legislative leaders have scrambled to muster enough support for an override.

But week after week in events around the state, Nixon, a Democrat, rallied opposition and assailed the proposal as “an ill-conceived, fiscally irresponsible experiment.” In the process, a few GOP lawmakers who originally supported the measure got cold feet.

Now, with the campaign entering its final weeks, Republicans still don’t know whether they have enough votes to override Nixon’s veto when they return to the Capitol on Sept. 11. But even if they come up short, House Speaker Tim Jones says he owes it to the voters who gave the GOP veto-proof supermajorities in the House and Senate to bring the bill up for a vote, regardless of the expected outcome.

“It’s too close to call at this point,” said Jones, a Eureka Republican. “If you’re a Republican, you have a very hard decision to make about whether you want to support something that is a central plank of our party — reducing taxes — or whether you want to stand with the governor.”

House Republicans gathered over the weekend in St. Louis for their annual summer caucus to discuss the governor’s vetoes and gauge support for any overrides. Rep. T.J. Berry, a Kearney Republican who sponsored the tax-cut bill, said he emerged from the gathering emboldened.

“I think support is solidifying,” Berry said. “Is it a slam dunk? No, but I think we’re very close.”
More:http://www.kansascity.com/2013/08/19/4421542/missouri-republicans-will-try.html