At the Show-Me Institute’s Speaker Series on September 12, American Enterprise Institute CEO Arthur Brooks spoke about the fairness argument.
Are Free Markets Only Good for the Rich?
At the Show-Me Institute’s Speaker Series on September 12, American Enterprise Institute CEO Arthur Brooks talked about the moral argument for capitalism and free enterprise.
Watch Live Tonight: John C. Goodman and Curing the Healthcare Crisis
Click below for live video of the Show-Me Institute’s Speaker Series on Economic Policy, which will begin at 6:00 p.m. CDT. Tonight’s speaker is John C. Goodman, a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute and the President and Kellye Wright Fellow in health care at the National Center for Policy Analysis. He is the author of Priceless: Curing the Healthcare Crisis.
Op-Ed About Loop Trolley In Post-Dispatch
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch published an op-ed today in which I wrote about “The Loopy Rationale For A Loop Trolley” in University City/City of Saint Louis. I argue there is no evidence that a $45 million trolley along Delmar Blvd. will lead to economic development. Please check it out.
Yes, Missouri Taxpayers Will Bail Out Public Pensions
Missouri made small changes in 2010 to new state employee pension plans in an attempt to lower costs. But small changes are not enough to avoid a pension crisis.
Last week, the board of the Missouri State Employees Retirement System approved a 20 percent increase (from $274 million to $330 million) in pension costs to the state. This increase will go into effect next year. Missouri will either have to cut funding in other areas to fit this into the budget, or increase taxes.
Tax money and investment income provide a majority of the state pension system’s funding. Forecasted investment growth rates have been too high, especially during the recent economic downturn. This means that there have been unrealistic high expectations of the amount of investment income the pension plans would receive. Now, taxpayers are stuck with the bill to make up for lower than anticipated investment income.
The $330 million cost to Missouri is a clear sign that further reform to the state pension system is needed.
Wow: Missouri Accounts For Nearly One-In-Seven Historic Preservation Tax Credit Projects
So say stats from the National Park Service that were delivered to the reconstituted Missouri Tax Credit Review Commission last week. We have talked about the largesse of state historic preservation credits many, many times. These are incentives that have often gone to projects of highly questionable public benefit, like private homes and at least one country club. And while many of the buildings hardly fit the definition of “historic,” taxpayer-subsidized spending on these projects has truly been monumental.
Figures compiled by the agency show Missouri had the greatest number of completed projects that were certified for tax breaks during the 2011 fiscal year. The state’s 99 historic renovation projects comprised nearly 14 percent of the entire total for the nation.
Park Service figures show Missouri’s historic renovation projects cost nearly $331 million in fiscal 2011 — second only behind $365 million of costs in Illinois.
Doing the math, about one-in-seven preservation projects in the country that use these incentives are in the Show-Me State. Are one-in-seven “historic buildings” in Missouri? Seems more likely that it is a special interest handout. These credits need to be reformed, and soon. It is absurd that they have not been reformed.
Falling Farther Off The Pace
Kentucky, known world-wide for its horse races, is trying to keep pace with Kansas as it gallops toward an economically competitive tax code. Meanwhile, it looks like Missouri will not even Show. Kentucky is also looking into fundamentally overhauling its tax structure. Just recently, Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Tax Reform accepted a report detailing several ways the state can overhaul its tax code. Some of the specific recommendations are debatable, but it is not the specific policy points so much as the core ideas on which these recommendations are based that I want to highlight. According to reports:
“. . . broadening the tax base will make the system more elastic; and shifting taxation away from business capital and labor earnings and toward consumption will make it more competitive . . .”
These are ideas that the Show-Me Institute has supported, including replacing the personal income tax with an expanded sales tax along with support for eliminating the corporate income tax.
Now, I am not saying that Kentucky will be overhauling its tax system tomorrow. Government commissions such as these have a tendency of not going anywhere (see Missouri’s Tax Credit Review Commission). However, Kansas recently cut its income tax. Both Nebraska and Oklahoma are looking to seriously overhaul their tax codes so one can forgive me if the fact that Kentucky now is considering tax reform makes me a bit nervous.
Missouri does not exist in a vacuum. What others states do has an effect on it. If other states scramble to cut or even do away with their personal income tax, what do you think that will do to Missouri’s economic prospects? Missouri needs to take bold steps to reform its tax code. If Missouri fails to act, it will fall farther behind.
McGraw Milhaven – David Stokes on KTRS
David Stokes has a recurring spot on McGraw Milhaven’s KTRS radio program. In this appearance, Stokes and the host discuss topics such as the recent debate on the possibility of merging Saint Louis City and County government services, the tobacco tax increase on the November ballot in Missouri, smoking bans and tobacco taxes generally, and what may become of Ballpark Village.
Government Lobbying Contracts
Most citizens have at least a cursory familiarity with the role of lobbying in the political process. Lobbying refers to actions that individuals, groups, and special interests undertake for the purpose of influencing public officials. Typically, lobbying occurs on behalf of private parties. However, a far more concerning form of lobbying — and one with which far fewer citizens are familiar — is lobbying that occurs on behalf of public institutions, which taxpayer dollars fund.
Taxpayer-funded lobbying — often referred to as intergovernmental lobbying — is the process of one governmental entity lobbying another. The entities that engage in this brand of lobbying include school districts, universities, police departments, fire protection districts, cities, counties, and various other agencies at every level of government that — in turn — lobby each other, state governments, and the federal government. In essence, taxpayer-funded lobbying implies that government — quite literally — lobbies itself.
According to Americans for Prosperity, this form of lobbying consumes up to $1 trillion of the tax revenue collected in this country each year. In consideration of tight budgets across the state of Missouri, expenditures such as these warrant particular scrutiny and a careful evaluation of the effects and legitimacy of intergovernmental lobbying.
There are many other concerns with taxpayer-funded lobbying. The largest is simply the unseemliness of its role in the constant expansion of the role of government at every level in all of our lives.
The Show-Me Institute’s Missouri government lobbying project is dedicated to bringing some sunlight into the practice. We have attempted to collect every current lobbying contract between a government institution and a private lobbying firm in Missouri. That effort is ongoing. It is our hope that interested Missourians will use this information to more effectively monitor their own local governments. Staying vigilant in regards to the activities of your government is difficult. We hope this tool makes it a little easier.
REPORT: “Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying: Government Lobbying Government,” by David Stokes and Abhi Sivasailam
RELATED COMMENTARY: “Missouri’s Taxpayers Lobbying To Pay More Taxes?” by Mary Kate Hopkins
