MISSOURI HALTS SOLAR TAX BREAK AS FEDERAL INCENTIVES EXPAND

As the U.S. government expands incentives for renewable energy, a decision by the Missouri Supreme Court is moving the state in the opposite direction by halting a solar energy tax break that has been on the books for nearly a decade. 

Legislation signed by President Joe Biden pumps about $375 billion over a decade into initiatives intended to combat climate change. Those include expanded tax breaks for the production of clean energy, such as wind and solar power, and for consumers to install solar panels on their property.

Democrats passed the legislation through a divided Congress last week, around the same time that Missouri’s highest court struck down a 2013 state law granting a property tax exemption for certain solar energy systems. The court said the tax break wasn’t allowed under the state constitution.

The case involved a privately run solar farm supplying energy for City Utilities of Springfield, which serves Missouri’s third largest city. As a result of the ruling, the company owning the solar energy farm will owe at least $423,360 in property taxes from 2017 to 2020, said Greene County Collector Allen Icet.

It’s not clear how many other solar energy sites across Missouri could be affected by the ruling, or exactly how much tax revenue is at stake.