Bill > HB589

This bill modifies the urban farm tax credit and establishes a new tax credit for grocery stores in food deserts. Specifically, the bill expands the existing urban farm tax credit to include small-scale specialty crop farms located in food deserts, defined as areas with high poverty rates or limited access to full-service grocery stores. The tax credit allows taxpayers to claim 50% of eligible expenses for establishing or improving urban farms or small-scale specialty crop farms, with a maximum credit of $5,000 for urban farms and $20,000 for specialty crop farms. The bill also creates a new tax credit for full-service grocery stores established in food deserts, offering a 50% tax credit on eligible expenses exceeding $500,000 to $1 million (depending on the county), with a maximum annual credit of $2.5 million per taxpayer. The total tax credits authorized for urban farms and specialty crop farms are increased from $200,000 to $3 million annually, while the new grocery store tax credit program has a cap of $22 million per year. Both programs include provisions for carrying over unused credits and have sunset provisions, expiring in 2028 for the urban farm credit and six years after implementation for the grocery store credit, unless reauthorized by the state legislature.

https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB589&year=2025&code=R