COLUMBIA – Only a few research laboratories currently sit along the road at Discovery Ridge.
But Rep. Stephen Webber, D-Columbia, says legislators hope to increase that number, and a bill up for discussion in the Missouri legislature could help to make that happen.
The Missouri Science and Innovation Reinvestment Act, also known as MOSIRA, would withhold state income taxes from companies in the science sector and reinvest those funds in new businesses.
Kelly Gillespie of the Missouri Biotechnology Association says that while Missouri already has an amazing research base due to the educational and scientific centers all around the state, “what we’re not doing quite well is promoting entrepreneurial behavior.”
Webber says that mid-Missouri, specifically, could see benefits if MOSIRA was put into action.
“Education is one of our main exports,” Webber said. He says that “high-tech jobs”- the kind that MOSIRA could create- are the kind mid-Missouri needs. ABC Laboratories is one company in the industry these state officials and lawmakers are looking to support. Company leaders for ABC Laboratories support the act.
“I think if the business community and the local scientific communities can come together, we can help drive some of the research and development aspects,” Bucksath said. The bill has a broad amount of bipartisan support, but some legislators feel it’s an unfair use of tax money that should go to existing state programs.
“I don’t believe that just because you follow a certain code or are in a specific industry means you don’t have to pay taxes and then create a fund you can apply for and essentially benefit from,” Sen. Jason Crowell said. Other state officials counter that it’s most important to keep industries in Missouri, so promising start-ups don’t move to surrounding states that already have these policies.
“In a short 5 years of time, Kansas has elevated itself to be one of the top 10 bioscience states in the nation and with a commitment and a consistent and stable funding mechanism that MOSIRA creates, Missouri is positioned to do the same thing in a very short period of time,” said David Kerr, director of the Missouri Department of Economic Development.
But Crowell feels lawmakers need to consider the way that tax money isn’t being used if it is used in this way.
“Let’s say you add 10,000 new jobs because of this recapture mechanism. Do you think any of those employees are going to bring students that have to be educated? Are they gonna drive on our roads? Are they gonna use our healthcare? Well right now the general revenue pays for all of that, and if you take your funding away from the taxes they would pay, we’re going to have a small group that has to pay for the education of their kids,” Crowell said.
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