Before this body is a proposal that would renew a state mandate requiring optometrist or physician eye exams for incoming kindergartners in Missouri’s public schools (Senate Bill 641). The mandate places both a legal and financial burden on Missouri families that only two other states in the country place on their citizens. There are several troubling aspects of the proposal.

In theory, establishing a TIF district involves serious and impartial deliberation and calculus. A city intends to revitalize a part of its community, but first it must go through a complicated process designed to test whether certain tax incentives are allowed. The city contracts with urban planners who independently determine if the proposal could happen “but for” the taxpayer assistance, and also if the area meets the standards for a designation of “blight,” or “conservation” (or another appropriate designation), making it eligible for subsidies. A developer is then brought into the process and, with the assistance of the government and the taxpayers, produces an economic growth engine that provides jobs, a revitalized community, and (eventually) an expanded tax base.

Senate Bill 795 would create a land bank in Kansas City. Proponents have argued that, given the foreclosure crisis, they have to do something about vacancy. I do not dispute the fact that vacancy is a public policy concern. However, there is no evidence that the land bank legislation proposed here will be an effective mechanism for getting vacant property back into private, productive use, nor is there any apparent evidence that the system of dealing with vacant property already in place in Kansas City is inadequate.

Since the late 1990s, Missouri’s tax credit system has grown into one of the biggest burdens on the state’s annual budgets, expending billions of dollars over the last decade and setting the stage for significant budgetary crises in the near future. In fiscal year 2013, Missouri expects tax credit redemptions to cost the state as much as the state is spending on its correctional and public safety systems — roughly $700 million. Put in another context, the entirety of 2013’s projected deficit is less than the state’s expected tax credit payout by about $200 million. Suffice to say, this is real money that legislators will have to understand and grapple with, given the squeeze tax credits have put on the FY2013 budget and will put on state budgets in future years.

There are few absolute truths in life, but we do have some. Death, taxes, gravity. If demand increases and supply remains the same, price will increase. The St. Louis Cardinals team will contend for the pennant. And, — most germane to this committee meeting — current practitioners of certain fields will initiate attempts to license their occupations.

Saint Louis, the city where I live and work, is home to the oldest land bank in the United States. The Saint Louis land bank, also known as the Land Reutilization Authority, has been in existence for more than four decades. It owns more than 10,000 parcels, making it the largest land holder in the City of Saint Louis. I hope that you consider its track record before creating a similar entity in Kansas City.

Think, if you will, about the difference in the taxes that property owners pay to fund local parks and the entrance fee your family pays to visit Yellowstone National Park. That is the appropriate framework to begin discussing toll roads. Everyone in the community can access local parks so general taxes support their existence. A much smaller percentage of people visit Yellowstone each year, and those people support it with an admission fee. Interstate highways are like Yellowstone — admission fees (tolls) are the preferred means of funding.

Missouri has seen an explosion of new taxing districts during the past decade. These districts are used as vehicles to focus public tax dollars toward private purposes. They include the use of tax increment financing (TIF), Chapter 100 bonds, transportation development districts (TDD), community improvement districts (CID), and more.

Our testimony today is intended to provide an explanation of House Bill 840, the Aerotropolis Trade Incentive and Tax Credit Act, and the probable damaging effect that it would have on the Missouri economy. This legislation is fraught with hidden costs, no study has been published that quantifies its supposed benefits, and tax credits in general have been a poor strategy for economic growth in Missouri.

In their own lives, individuals regularly make the tough choices to eat less and exercise in order to achieve better health. The state government can do the same. Policymakers in Missouri can make those same hard decisions to outsource, privatize, consolidate, or share services in order to perform key public services at as low a cost as possible. H.J.R. 11 would encourage Missouri’s state government to conduct a top-down, bottom-up review of all state agencies and regulations to eliminate waste, inefficiency, and government intrusion unrelated to essential services.

It is my opinion that the Parent Empowerment and Choice Act would expand educational choice in Missouri. Research has found that increased educational choice is good for students and good for traditional public schools. When funding limits are imposed, such as the 75-percent cap proposed in this legislation, expanded school choice can even help reduce state expenditures. I applaud your efforts to consider legislation that would empower parents to seek the best forms of education for their children.

These programs defeat the purposes that supporters usually cite in their favor: encouraging employment and helping Missouri compete. In short, tax credits are a form of wealth redistribution — we all bear the cost, but only special interests and favored industries benefit.

David Stokes, a policy analyst with the Show-Me Institute, testifies before the Saint Louis County Council Committee of the Whole in opposition to new licensing requirements for HVAC contractors and workers in Saint Louis County. Stokes discusses how licensing rules like those proposed in this code amendment are used to limit competition and increase costs for consumers.

Among the elements of the new health care reform law that was passed by Congress is a requirement that almost every adult would either have to purchase a health insurance policy or face punitive fines to be collected by the Internal Revenue Service. There has been widespread debate in legal circles about whether the courts would uphold such a requirement, but lawmakers in at least 40 states are trying to do what they can to insulate their citizens from such a requirement. In Alaska, members of this legislature are considering HJR 35, which very closely resembles the legislation known in other states as Health Care Freedom amendments.

David Stokes, a policy analyst with the Show-Me Institute, testifies before the Missouri House of Representatives Job Creation and Economic Development Committee, about the economic effects of pending legislation, House Joint Resolution 81. Stokes argues that the commercial surcharge rates established 25 years ago long outdated, and that legislation allowing local officials to reduce those rates in response to changing economic conditions would provide a strong incentive for businesses to stay in Missouri.

Dave Roland, a policy analyst with the Show-Me Institute, testifies before the Senate Governmental Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Committee and the House Special Standing Committee on General Laws about SJR 25 and HJR 57, also known as the Health Care Freedom Act, which would offer citizens the opportunity to modify the Missouri Bill of Rights to formally recognize their right to decide for themselves whether they will participate in any private health care system. Under this amendment, the government would not be permitted to prevent citizens from offering or accepting direct payment for health care services, and neither could it substantially limit the purchase or sale of health insurance in private health care systems.

Kansas City officials deserve credit for wanting to update and revamp the city's business and occupational licensing system. Economic activity benefits the city whenever it occurs, whether directly or indirectly. Many of the changes proposed here will positively benefit Kansas City's economy by simplifying many parts of the system.

A recent Show-Me Institute study documents the extremely large costs and very questionable benefits that a significant investment in high-speed rail would bring Missouri. Other estimated figures that have been publicized regarding the construction of high-speed rail left out cost overruns, operating expenses, repair and maintenance, and more. The burden for those additional costs would fall on the state of Missouri and its taxpayers — not the federal government.

One of the reasons that America has long been known as the “land of opportunity” is that its citizens are understood to have the freedom to make decisions for themselves. Rather than having their lives dictated to them, as is the case in so many nations across the world, Americans engage in the pursuit of happiness by cultivating an extremely broad array of tastes and interests. For many, this includes the choice to smoke.

In order for MoDOT and other transportation agencies to have the ability to seriously consider public-private partnerships — state officials would be well advised to consider passing wide-ranging enabling legislation that would authorize agencies, particularly MoDOT, to enter into these types of projects when careful analysis has deemed them to be both viable and beneficial.