Saint Charles County Grows Without TIFs
Local governments throughout Missouri continue their neverending quest to lure favored businesses and keep the chosen ones they already have...
Kansas City Considers Regional Jail: Bad News for Criminals, Good News for Taxpayers
There’s an interesting article in the Star today about the proposal for a shared, regionally built jail for the Kansas...
Driving the Snakes Out of Politics (St. Patrick’s Day-Themed)
There is a dangerously misleading letter to the editor in this morning’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch regarding Missouri’s Special Needs Tax...
A Terrible Idea for Electrical Licensing ? Or Is It?
As regular readers of this blog may recall, I loathe occupational licensing. In the vast majority of cases, it is...
Quick Hits After a Journey
After nine hours in a rented Pontiac G6 (that handled remarkably well in sleet, by the way) the second leg...
Cut the Budget or Raise Taxes? Kansas City, Make Your Choice …
Today’s Kansas City Star has a very good and detailed look at Kansas City’s projected budget problems. I believe it...
Who Should Decide on Tax Increment Financing?
Anytime you can put "Municipal League" and "TIF Commissions" in the same headline, you know you have an exciting story!...
Election Week: Rise of the Youth
In honor of Tuesday’s presidential primaries here in Missouri, I’ll be running a bit of a series this week related...
A Very Good Idea About Trash in St. Louis County …
We have discussed the St. Louis County trash collection proposal numerous times on this blog, and I have officially run...
Will Decreased Home Values Lead to Lower Taxes?
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has an article today on how the decline in home values may or may not result...
Stopping by Show-Me on a Snowy Morning
All apologies to Robert Frost for the title, but the rest of the Show-Me Institute staff is in the process...
Update and Correction to SMI Case Study on Pharmacy Privatization
Last year we released a case study on the privatization of the county’s pharmacy services. With the release of the...
Bellefontaine Habilitation Center Is a Difficult and Emotional Issue
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a very thoughtful editorial this morning (link via Combest) about the Bellefontaine Habilitation Center in...
State of the State
The 2008 legislative session kicked off yesterday, and among the General Assembly’s initial priorities are increases to minimum teacher salaries...
High-Tech Pigs in a Cellular Trough
While the growth of the federal government gets most of the attention from people who care about things like that,...
Taxes Go Up Incrementally; Why Shouldn’t They Go Down Incrementally?
Let me start by saying that I love the St. Louis Business-Journal and read it every week. It plays a...
Cell Phone Tax Windfall Is Another Reason to Roll Back Tax Rates
The Post-Dispatch reports that AT&T has agreed to settle the lawsuit brought by cities for back taxes from cell phone...
Changes to Property Assessment System Would Improve Fairness
Like a more frequent, less welcome, and much more expensive Halley’s Comet, property reassessment returned to Missouri this year. As...
Cops, Taxes, and Trash in St. Louis County
While the Jackson County Council is doling out taxpayer money to selected assistants, last night the St. Louis County Council...
Incentives, Recycling, and Trash
The Kansas City area is addressing the way it handles waste, just as St. Louis County has been doing. Here...
