Missouri Historic Preservation Tax Credit

Abstract

The federal government offers an incentive to rehabilitate designated buildings that are older than 50 years. Missouri authorized a tax credit with the same purpose, the Missouri Historic Preservation Tax Credit, in Senate Bill 1 of the second 1997 extraordinary session. Shortly after the state program was approved by the legislature, Carolyn Toft, the Executive Director of the Landmarks Association of St. Louis, compared the program to publicly financed sports stadiums and said, “this is precisely the kind of incentive that brings the things we hear about when people are discussing sports palaces… bit by bit you can put a community or a main street or a neighborhood back together” (Young, 1997). The federal and state programs have been used to redevelop old buildings in small and large cities throughout Missouri. Since the state program was created, the use of the program and the cost to the state has grown significantly.