Corporate Welfare: A Curse, Not a Cure
I could only groan when I read the headline: “Saint Louis unifies to win Amazon HQ2: A Successful Bid Would...
Chesterfield’s Corporate Welfare House of Cards
Missouri’s development house of cards is all too often built upon a shaky foundation of corporate welfare. It looks as...
To Keep the Zoo Great, Keep It Out of Taxpayers’ Pockets
A version of this op-ed appeared in the Clayton Times on July 11, 2017. We’re told early in life that...
Why Subsidize It Once When You Can Subsidize It Twice?
There is so much demand for hockey in the Saint Louis region that officials and special interests want to subsidize...
How Should Saint Louis Fund Its Zoo?
The Saint Louis Zoo is one of the finest institutions of its kind, and is a source of civic and...
Parking Fees Alone Cannot Fund MetroLink Expansion
Saint Louis City Mayor Francis Slay wants to spend $2.2 billion on a new north–south MetroLink line, originally reported at...
Tax Hikes to Fund Tax Cuts?
A decade ago business boomed as the Crestwood shopping center annually brought in more than $1 million in sales tax...
Unionization-the Wrong Solution for UMSL Faculty
Vicarious embarrassment—it’s the feeling you get when you watch someone else in an awkward situation. It’s the best description of...
Evergreen Clauses: The Gift that Keeps on Giving
Back on January 1, 2011, the Monarch Fire Protection District (MFPD) and the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local...
North-South MetroLink Expansion: Snake Oil for Saint Louis
Mayor Slay and many—but not all—regional leaders are peddling a curious elixir: a $2 billion expansion of MetroLink. The expansion...
What’s a Nice TIF Like You Doing in a Place Like This?
Public subsidies have taken on an increasingly prominent role in new developments across the St. Louis region, and KP Development...
To Pay for North-South MetroLink, the City Will Need the County
Recently, regional leaders in Saint Louis have gotten into a spat over plans to expand the MetroLink. Saint Louis County...
Kansas City’s Crocodile Tears over Blight
After the events of Ferguson, when it was discovered that the city had been using fines and court fees to...
Light Rail a Losing Proposition for Saint Louis
As the Post-Dispatch recently reported, Mayor Slay is starting to throw his weight behind a long-awaited expansion of the MetroLink,...
Saint Louis’s Central Business District: The Heart of What?
Last week, a murder a few blocks from the Saint Louis Convention Center turned attention toward both the safety and...
Uber Under Threat in Saint Louis
The Metropolitan Taxicab Commission (MTC), which regulates for-hire vehicles (mainly taxis) in Saint Louis City and County, has attempted to...
#Dropthesuit, Explained
If you follow the key players in the Saint Louis Charter School community on social media, you’ve probably seen the...
The Saint Louis City Earnings Tax: Lifeline or Noose?
On April 2, Show-Me Institute Fellow and Senior Writer Andrew B. Wilson gave a speech on the Earnings Tax to...
Rams Park: A Case Study of Professional-Sports Welfare in Saint Louis
As we discussed last week, Saint Louis may be forced to turn over a $19 million practice facility to the...
A Big Step Backwards for Municipal Reform in Saint Louis County
Last year, Missouri passed legislation restricting the ability of cities to rely on fines and fees to run their local...
