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Instead of unnecessary tax cuts, Missouri should consider sensible reforms that have worked across the nation and that will serve all of Missouri\u2019s communities (Tim Carpenter\/Kansas Reflector).<\/p>\n
Missouri lawmakers have been pushing regressive and shortsighted tax policies that undermine everyday workers and sabotage the Show-Me State\u2019s ability to raise revenue.<\/p>\n
Within a few months, Missouri ended taxation of capital gains, poised itself to cut property taxes across the state and reignited the Kansas City border war. To make matters even worse, the governor has reaffirmed his desire to eliminate income taxes in the state.<\/p>\n
Missourians depend on responsible economic policy from our state leaders, and needs in Missouri are high: tornado relief efforts are ongoing<\/a> in St. Louis, many rural school districts cannot afford to operate on a five-day school week<\/a>, and America is becoming increasingly unaffordable<\/a>.<\/p>\n Each dollar of unnecessary tax breaks for corporations, millionaires, and billionaires is a dollar that will no longer be spent on healing Missouri\u2019s patients in hospitals, moving Missouri\u2019s people on roads, or educating Missouri\u2019s future in schools.<\/p>\n Exempting capital gains from taxation in Missouri handed a massive tax break to wealthy households. This tax cut does nothing for those whose money comes from working. Instead, it only benefits those enriched by passive income realized by selling investments, business stakes, and other assets that are now free from taxation. In fact, this measure gives a tax cut to the average millionaire that is over 529 ti<\/a>mes larger than what the majority of Missourians receive.<\/p>\n It could get even worse. This past summer, lawmakers passed legislation<\/a> which could fundamentally inhibit the ability of Missouri counties to generate property tax revenue. This law requires most of the state\u2019s counties to hold a vote on limiting the growth of property taxes or freezing them outright. If the bill is upheld by courts<\/a> and county referenda move forward, then the consequences could include funding cuts and instability<\/a> for schools, firefighters, libraries, and other local services that depend on property taxes.<\/p>\n Lawmakers in both Kansas and Missouri have reignited a wasteful economic border war. From 2009 to 2019, policymakers in both states offered corporate subsidies in an attempt to convince companies to relocate to the other side of State Line Road in Kansas City.<\/p>\n This economic conflict produced two losers: Missouri and Kansas. The only beneficiaries of this conflict were corporations that were given approximately $335 million in tax incentives<\/a> to do, according to experts<\/a>, exactly what they would\u2019ve done without $335 million in tax incentives.<\/p>\n This border war has now culminated in the largest corporate subsidy<\/a> in American history for a sports stadium. The Chiefs\u2019 owners have announced they will move to Kansas, thus abandoning their iconic stadium in Missouri for a new stadium built, primarily, by Kansas taxpayers.<\/p>\n The Chiefs\u2019 owners will receive $1.8 billion in public dollars to move the team just roughly 20 miles and create\u2014as economists agree<\/a>\u2014no new economic activity. The reality of this decision is a cultural loss for Missouri fans, a financial loss for Kansas taxpayers, and a massive gain for the Hunts (the family that owns the Chiefs and is worth $25 billion<\/a>).<\/p>\n Stadium subsidies put costs on taxpayers and are not the decisive factor that makes a team stay or leave\u2014just ask any former Rams fan in St. Louis<\/a>. This border war can only provide pointless tax breaks for corporations while straining governmental investment in public resources\u2014like schools and transportation\u2014that actually make a region more inviting to businesses<\/a>.<\/p>\n In his annual State of the State address, Gov. Mike Kehoe repeated his plans<\/a> to work with the General Assembly to ask Missourians to do what the state can absolutely not afford to do: eliminate Missouri\u2019s individual income tax. This decision would put funding for public services in jeopardy while ultimately increasing the taxes paid by low- and middle-income households.<\/p>\n Missouri ostensibly has a progressive income tax structure<\/a>\u2014meaning that people should pay a gradually larger share of their income as they earn more money.<\/p>\n However, over the course of nearly 100 years<\/a>, Missouri\u2019s income tax has hardly been updated to reflect inflationary trends: its uppermost bracket has hovered around $9,000 since 1931. The result is a virtually flat income tax that creates a similar tax level for all income levels. Missouri\u2019s income tax isn\u2019t perfect, but it\u2019s a vital means for lawmakers to fund key services. Instead of destroying the state\u2019s most reasonable source of revenue, lawmakers should focus on reforming the individual income tax by improving its current structure.<\/p>\n Missouri is already facing serious budgetary challenges, with an estimated $1 billion revenue shortfall starting in 2027. In the event of a recession, this deficit could grow by billions more by 2028<\/a>. Lawmakers widened this gap with recent tax cuts, which are already proving to cost the state much more revenue<\/a> than lawmakers had previously expected. The proposed cuts to come would make it much worse.<\/p>\n For instance, the individual income tax accounts for nearly two-thirds<\/a> of Missouri\u2019s general revenue fund. If it is eliminated, lawmakers would face difficult choices that would certainly involve cutting services and the need to increase other taxes.<\/p>\n Furthermore, these tax cuts do not even mean inherently lower taxes. While such policies are sure to reduce taxes paid by wealthier families, the same is not true for working-class Missourians, who could find themselves with a higher effective tax rate after these changes.<\/p>\n Public funds need to come from somewhere, and experts agree<\/a> that eliminating the income tax creates a funding void that will likely be filled by enacting more regressive taxes. In fact, the governor\u2019s plan<\/a> would do exactly that by broadening the state\u2019s sales tax base, which means all Missourians would then owe more in taxes on the goods and services they purchase in future years.<\/p>\n By pushing the state further down a regressive path, Missouri legislators will provide tax breaks for wealthy families and corporations while likely raising taxes on everyday working-class families.<\/p>\n Missouri lawmakers can put their residents\u2019 needs first, and they have done so in small but meaningful ways this year. For instance, they created tax credits<\/a> for those who experienced home damage from natural disasters and expanded circuit breaker property tax credits<\/a> for senior citizens and disabled veterans. These tax policies work because they offer targeted benefits to those who need them. Unfortunately, this work has been drastically overshadowed by regressive tax cuts.<\/p>\n Missouri\u2019s communities will benefit from preventing and reversing regressive tax changes while seeking policy solutions based on economic needs. Missouri could improve its tax system through positive changes, such as undoing the damage of earlier income tax cuts to account for reduced federal funds, creating a refundable child tax credit to combat child poverty, or levying an inheritance tax to raise the revenue needed to meaningfully invest in Missourians.<\/p>\n Instead of unnecessary tax cuts, Missouri should consider sensible reforms that have worked across the nation and that will serve all of Missouri\u2019s communities.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Instead of unnecessary tax cuts, Missouri should consider sensible reforms that have worked across the nation and that will serve all of Missouri\u2019s communities (Tim Carpenter\/Kansas Reflector). Missouri lawmakers have been pushing regressive and shortsighted tax policies that undermine everyday workers and sabotage the Show-Me State\u2019s ability to raise revenue. Within a few months, Missouri…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n