Missouri Capital Gains Tax for Solar and Wind Energy Projects Initiative (2020)

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Missouri Capital Gains Tax for Solar and Wind Energy Projects Initiative
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Election date
November 3, 2020
Topic
Taxes and Energy
Status
Not on the ballot
Type
State statute
Origin
Citizens


The Missouri Capital Gains Tax for Solar and Wind Energy Projects Initiative was not on the ballot in Missouri as an initiated state statute on November 3, 2020.

Winston Apple proposed two versions of the ballot measure, which would have enacted a tax on capital gains and qualified dividends and dedicate the revenue to employ workers and purchase or lease materials and facilities to increase the percentage of electricity generated by solar and wind sources to at least 90 percent of the state's generated electricity.[1]

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title for Initiative 2020-048 would have been as follows:[1]

Do you want to amend Missouri law to:

  • impose a state tax on long-term capital gains and qualified dividends (gains and dividends) in an amount equal to the difference between the federal taxes paid on gains and dividends and the rate that would have been paid had the gains or dividends been taxed as marginal ordinary income; and
  • use these tax revenues to increase the percentage of electricity generated by wind and solar sources in Missouri, while creating as many jobs as possible, until 90% or more of the state's electricity is from wind and solar sources?

State governmental entities estimate unknown annual revenue increases to fund the proposed program, one-time costs of approximately $800,000, and annual operating costs of at least $3 million. Local governmental entities expect no fiscal impact.[2]

Full text

The full text of the measure is available for Initiative 2020-048 and Initiative 2020-049.

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing the initiative process in Missouri

Process in Missouri

In Missouri, the number of signatures required to qualify an initiated state statute for the ballot is equal to 5 percent of the votes cast for governor in the previous gubernatorial election in six of the eight state congressional districts. Signatures must be filed with the secretary of state six months prior to the election.

The requirements to get an initiated state statute certified for the 2020 ballot:

  • Signatures: The smallest possible requirement was 100,126 valid signatures. The actual requirement depends on the congressional districts in which signatures were collected.
  • Deadline: The deadline to submit signatures was May 3, 2020.

Once the signatures have been filed with the secretary of state, the secretary copies the petition sheets and transmits them to county election authorities for verification. The secretary of state may choose whether the signatures are to be verified by a 5 percent random sample or full verification. If the random sampling projects between 90 percent and 110 percent of required signatures, a full check of all signatures is required. If more than 110 percent, the initiative is certified, and, if less than 90 percent, the initiative fails.

Stages of this initiative

Winston Apple filed the ballot initiative on March 7, 2019. On April 16, 2019, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (R) approved the initiative for signature gathering. Apple filed a second version on March 18, which was approved for circulation on April 30. Petitioners did not submit signatures by the May 3 deadline.[1]

See also

Footnotes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Missouri Secretary of State, "2020 Initiative Petitions Approved for Circulation in Missouri," accessed April 17, 2019
  2. Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.