How does the proposed amendment interact with the Missouri Constitutions existing Hancock Amendment, and does Hancock already provide adequate legal protection against a transfer tax?
The state legislature can comply with the Hancock Amendment and still raise taxes on its own – without a vote of the people – up to about $90 million a year. And such a tax increase could be imposed by the legislature through a real estate transfer tax. So the Hancock Amendment doesn’t offer protection against a transfer tax. And, there is no settled case law on the question of whether the Hancock Amendment would limit the ability of local governments to boost a transfer tax rate without seeking a vote of the people. That’s because there is debate, even among legal experts, about how the Hancock Amendment applies to municipalities. And that’s another reason we cannot depend on the Hancock Amendment to protect us from a transfer tax. Finally, the proposed amendment to bar a transfer tax doesn’t clash with the Hancock Amendment’s tax limitation provisions. It actually compliments Hancock, because the transfer tax proposal is revenue neutral since the transfer tax isn’t currently being co
