A is for Absent
Being financially responsible—keeping a close eye on your bank balance and even your credit score, for example—isn’t always pleasant. Being...
Michigan Repeals Prevailing Wage, and Missouri Should, Too
Good policy doesn’t have to be complicated. That’s the lesson we should take from the way Michigan legislators took on...
Charter Schools: The Education Opportunity Hidden in Plain Sight
By next week, the Missouri State Board of Education should be up and running again. They’ve got plenty of business...
A Fine First Step in the Right Direction for Special Taxing District Reform
For decades, Missourians have been paying hundreds of millions in special sales taxes they all too often had no clue...
Kansas City Dodged the #HQ2 Bullet
Richard Florida is an urban studies theorist who promoted the idea that the creative class would drive urban renewal and...
Mercatus Study Affirms SMI Tax Credit Suggestion from 2012
Six years ago, Michael Rathbone and I coauthored a paper that looked at Missouri’s corporate income tax, assessed its problems...
Like a Sore Thumb: Missouri’s Testing Standards Buck National Trend
Marching to the beat of your own drummer is all good and well as long as you know where you’re...
On Superintendents and Their Districts
Does it really matter who’s running a school district? Put another way, is paying top dollar for a superintendent a...
Did Easier Tests Cost Normandy Students the Right to Transfer?
On December 1, 2017, the Missouri State Board of Education went into a closed session and ousted Commissioner Margie Vandeven....
Legislature Passes Bill to Bring Transparency to Schools
If school districts can levy taxes, then taxpayers should be able to see exactly how the money is being spent....
Enough: Earned Income Tax Credit’s Failure Wasn’t Because “Corporate Interests” Were Prioritized
In the last few days, several Missouri editorial boards have published pieces bemoaning the income tax cuts passed by the Missouri legislature,...
It’s a Gas Gas Tax!
With apologies to The Rolling Stones, I write today about the Missouri Legislature’s passage of HB 1460. The bill would...
Lawmakers Give Missourians a Tax Break
State Lawmakers have cut income taxes for Missourians with a bill that now heads to the desk of Governor Eric...
Legislature Slashes Business Taxes
It took a roundabout way to get there, but the House (last night) and the Senate (today) passed Senate Bill...
Missouri Legislature Follows the Blueprint and Passes Course Access
Do you remember January of 2016? Adele’s Hello was displaced by Justin Bieber’s Sorry at the top of the Billboard...
Finally, a Victory for Parents and Students in Missouri
The doors to a better education may have opened wide for all Missouri students this week. Despite a distracted legislative...
The Government Shouldn’t Mandate a “Living Wage”
On the last Monday of the legislative session, almost 90 people were arrested in downtown Jefferson City for blocking a...
Tourism: When Kansas City Is Not Kansas City
Eyebrows were raised at the claim by Kansas City’s tourism board, VisitKC, that Kansas City has over 25 million visitors...
Missouri Poised to Raise the Age
Today, the Missouri Senate passed Senate Bill 793, which the House passed earlier this week. With the Governor’s signature, the...
The Time Is Right for Mandatory Minimum Reform
In a vote that was itself noteworthy, on May 1 the Missouri House voted unanimously, 148 to 0, to approve...
