New Missouri homeowner tax break wins OK

Missourians hoping to buy a home in the year got some good news Friday.

The state will pay the first year of property taxes for some residents who buy homes after Jan. 1, 2010, under a plan the [CompanyWatch allows you to receive email alerts with stories related to your companies of interest.

You can watch up to ten companies at a time.

] Missouri Housing Development Commission approved. The measure, first proposed by Gov. Jay Nixon and state Treasurer Clint Zweifel last month, passed 7-1.

The initiative is expected to provide property tax relief for 9,000 to 11,000 Missouri families.

Families who make less than $98,000 a year and enter into a contract to buy a new or existing Missouri home after Jan. 1 would have their property tax paid up to $1,250.

Those families would be eligible to have an additional $500 paid toward the tax bill if they purchase an energy-efficient home or Energy Star appliances, bringing the total tax relief available for each family to $1,750.

The energy-efficiency initiative was part of a larger, $35 million package the commission approved Friday. The package, funded through commission reserves and federal stimulus money, includes funds to provide down-payment and closing-cost assistance for first-time homebuyers and for the construction of rental housing.

Included in the package are:

• $15 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to provide financing for construction of rental properties in 2010;

• $15 million in commission reserve funds for the tax-relief and energy-efficiency initiatives;

• $5 million to fund down-payment and closing-cost assistance for the First-Time Homebuyer Program.

Original Article