There’s No Free Lunch ? Even When You Recycle

Posted on by Sarah Brodsky

Some St. Louis residents are disappointed that the city ended a recycling pilot program. You can still recycle in St. Louis, but now you have to bring your own stuff to the recycling center. The city won’t pick it up for you the way they pick up garbage.

People are finding some costs of recycling difficult to face. Here’s one comment about the change in policy:

“Now it’s become very unhandy to recycle.”

In fact, it always was unhandy to recycle. It was never free and instantaneous. Under the pilot program, St. Louisians enjoyed the benefits of the recycling pickup without paying for it directly. The cost was spread out through taxation, and no one got a bill specifically for that service.

Once again, St. Louis residents will have to bear some of the cost of recycling, either by paying for a pickup service or by taking it to one of the drop-off centers themselves. People who truly value recycling will gladly give up the extra time or money. Those for whom recycling is less important will find better uses for their resources.

Great Discussion of the “Fair Tax” in the Columbia Missourian

Posted on by David Stokes

I definitely recommend this piece in today’s Columbia Missourian discussing the growing support for Missouri’s “Fair Tax” proposal, which would replace the state’s income tax with a higher sales tax. (Link via Monsieur Combest.)

I don’t recommend it only because it quotes the Show-Me Institute’s executive vice president, Dr. Joseph Haslag — although it does, which is pretty cool. There is also a great, and perfectly accurate, comment from Democratic state Rep. Chris Kelly, about the current sales tax laws:

Kelly sees his support of a consumption tax as a continuation of the 11 years he spent trying to remove sales tax exemptions. He likes the consumption because he says it is “efficient and universal.” He sees the current tax code as riddled with exemptions and favors for the very wealthy and the very powerful.

“If you own a big boat, I mean a big boat, I mean you’re a party dog … you can get your boat exempted from the sales tax by effectively donating your boat to the Coast Guard so that your boat is available to defend the people of Missouri,” Kelly said. “Like for instance if the Kansans attack down the Osage River … we will be prepared to fight hard. … We’d have our luxury boats in place.”

Former state Rep. Ed Robb gave a nice summary of the simple reason that all taxes are not equal, and state income taxes do more harm than sales taxes:

“Capital and money, they can move very easily, and they will move to areas where they perceive a better rate of return, or less tax threats, like Tennessee,” said Robb, who is seen as an economics expert in Jefferson City.

There are legitimate questions about the sales tax strategy — in particular, the Kansas City area might see a major increase in retail business moving to Kansas. But some legislators still prefer ideology to facts, and propose ideas like this one from the article:

By raising the state’s tax rate from 6 percent to 9 percent of higher personal income brackets, Oxford thinks the state would be better able to meet the challenges of funding health care and education.

“In terms of real dollars, we’re funding programs at the same levels as five, even 10 years ago,” Oxford said. “A modest increase like this would free up $1.3 billion for state-funded programs.”

A modest increase? Taking away three percent of someone’s income is a modest increase? If Rep. Oxford’s goal is to have a flood of higher-income people leave the state and take their money with them, then she’ll succeed with that proposal. Just unbelievable. …

“Reptiles of Concern”

Posted on by Sarah Brodsky

The federal government strictly regulates immigration, when the animals entering the country are humans. Australian saltwater crocodiles are a different story. This article describes the debate over a bill to regulate the importation of nonnative animals:

Bordallo’s bill would establish a method to assess all nonnative animals in the United States, excluding the common ones like dogs, cats, goats and horses.

Each would be approved or blacklisted, based on the danger it poses the economy, environment or other animals.

Although matters such as regulating chickens are best left to states and local governments, bringing dangerous wildlife into the country ought to be restricted at the national level. This effort should focus on prohibiting those animals that are a danger, not on determining the environmental impact of every hedgehog. I’ll be happy if the federal government keeps out crocodiles and lets states do the rest.

Zoning in Jefferson County

Posted on by Sarah Brodsky

I hadn’t heard much about the proposed Hindu education center in Franklin County since I blogged about it last year, but I was reminded of it today when I read this article in the Post-Dispatch. It’s disappointing that the zoning issues still haven’t been worked out.

This news story shows how zoning laws don’t live up to their promise of increasing land use efficiency. Instead of generally promoting the level of productivity or weighing the costs and benefits of new development, zoning stacks the cards in favor of a few property owners who got there first. Any development that doesn’t look exactly like the original properties gets tied up by regulation, even if the potential gains from the new development are much larger than the potential damage to its neighbors’ property values. Property owners shouldn’t have to give up their land for the “greater good” as in eminent domain cases, but they also shouldn’t be able to veto any neighboring development that might have a mild effect on real estate values.

Furthermore, while it would be nice if zoning decisions were based on purely objective calculations, in real life they can be motivated by ignorance and bigotry. Here’s an example from the article:

Opposition may have been stirred up by rumors, the most damaging of which is that the development would somehow include a training camp for Muslim terrorists.

If it were going to include a terrorist camp, then I’d be all for zoning it out. What’s actually proposed, however, is a lot less exciting — a spiritual retreat and education center. I hope the zoning dispute is resolved soon so that this peaceful, terrorist-free development can proceed.

Another Great Feature of Missouri’s Homeschooling Law

Posted on by Sarah Brodsky

Missouri allows parents to teach their homeschooled children driver’s ed, unlike many other states that require homeschoolers to attend a class.

Missouri’s policy is rooted in common sense. Homeschoolers take the same driving exams as anyone else; if their parents fail to provide sufficient instruction, the kids will fail the exams. That should ensure that drivers are prepared. There’s no need to force homeschoolers into a driver’s ed classroom.

Very Exciting Conference Coming Up in St. Louis

Posted on by David Stokes

The American Issues Project is hosting a very interesting conference on policy and political issues in St. Louis. It takes place on June 3 and 4. All the information you need regarding this conference is available online. If these types of events are of interest to you, I encourage you to consider attending and participating. I am especially interested in hearing the term limits debate between Sen. Anita Yeckel and Paul Jacob, an esteemed mentor to our own editor, Eric.

How to Compete With Charters

Posted on by Sarah Brodsky

The St. Louis Public Schools are faced with a problem: how to compete with the new KIPP Inspire Academy. The superintendent’s strategy is to spend $1 million on marketing, in hopes that new logos and brochures will bring students back to the district.

I think he’ll learn that the only way to compete with KIPP is to beat it at its own game. Parents are impressed by KIPP education, not by promotional materials. The pictures in the article show the KIPP principal advertising the school by just walking around with a signup sheet and talking to people — hardly cutting-edge marketing. (I know, KIPP puts out advertisements, too, but its work canvassing neighborhoods is what really gets parents involved.)

The fact that advertisements alone won’t work doesn’t mean the district’s hands are tied. There’s nothing to prevent SLPS from starting its own KIPP-style school, accepting fourth graders. It could offer long hours, accelerated academics, and Spanish classes— like this KIPP elementary school in Houston. If families like it, they can stay on for fifth grade — no need to switch to the “real” KIPP middle school.

SLPS actually has an advantage over brand-name charters — it accepts students at all grade levels. The charter school startups are limiting enrollment to a few grades: KIPP is only taking fifth graders, and the language immersion schools are accepting kindergartners and first graders. SLPS just has to open comparably themed choice schools for a wider range of student ages, and the charters will be left scrambling to catch up.

I know SLPS can do it — I was so impressed by its Career Academy that I unquestioningly believed a report that it was a charter. District schools that look and act like charters won’t have trouble competing, because no one will be able to tell the difference.

Taxing and Spending

Posted on by Sarah Brodsky

It’s exasperating when Missouri politicians talk about taxing casinos to “pay for education.” They imply that there’s some kind of inherent link between casinos and schools, and that money from gambling revenue naturally flows to a classroom. In fact, gambling is just one of many activities that the state taxes, and schooling is one thing it pays for. There’s no connection between the two, until public officials create an arbitrary link to shore up support for a tax proposal. This tactic misleads voters by giving the impression that you have to support a certain tax in order to get a certain benefit. You never hear that the state should spend less on anything so they can free up resources for education, even though a reduction in some other part of the budget could fund public schools just as well as a new tax could.

How the government raises taxes and how it spends money are two separate questions, and they should be treated as such.

This phenomenon is not unique to Missouri politics. It appears in other states, and at the national level, as you can learn from John LaPlante’s State House Call post today. Follow his link to hear Marta Mossberg talk about soft drink taxes, which advocates claim will pay for state health care expenses and discourage unhealthy habits at the same time. (Mossberg says the tax can’t do both; either it raises a lot of revenue, or it curbs soft drink consumption. The government won’t bring in a lot of money if nobody’s buying the drinks.)

I find it interesting that politicians are setting up the issue the way casino taxes are framed in debates here: This one tax will pay for something good, and no other tax or spending cut could achieve the same results.

Speaking of soda taxes, here’s an unintentionally funny YouTube video of New York’s health commissioner explaining — complete with props — why he wants a soft drink tax. I understand the glasses of milk and the soda cans, but what is that thing he uses to represent fat? It looks like a headless teddy bear. Maybe someone could enlighten me in the comments?

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