In this appearance, Stokes and the host discuss topics such as Mitt Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan as his running mate, Claire McCaskill’s “Truth About Todd Akin” website, Stacey Newman’s victory in the primary by just one vote, and Stokes’ personal experience appealing his property tax assessment (“It was fun!”).

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The typical family faces a tax increase of $4,138. Low-income workers face an average tax increase of $1,207 while the average retiree faces an $857 increase.

As a whole, Missouri will face an additional $7,858,563,552 in increased taxes, which amounts to $2,634 per tax return. Here is the impact of the upcoming tax hikes on taxpayers in each Congressional District in Missouri:

• Congressional District 1 (Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay): $2,338
• Congressional District 2 (Rep. W. Todd Akin): $4,765
• Congressional District 3 (Rep. Russ Carnahan): $2,981
• Congressional District 4 (Rep. Vicky Hartzler): $2,009
• Congressional District 5 (Rep. Emanuel Cleaver): $2,507
• Congressional District 6 (Rep. Sam Graves): $2,692
• Congressional District 7 (Rep. Billy Long): $2,317
• Congressional District 8 (Rep. Jo Ann Emerson): $1,677
• Congressional District 9 (Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer): $2,424

The prospect of further tax hikes threaten to weaken an already stagnant economy. Policymakers have a diminishing window of opportunity to stave off these looming tax increases.

The post The Deep Impact of ‘Taxmageddon’ On Missouri appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

I provided background about the Show-Me Institute and spoke briefly about property taxes and assessments. There were a number of Republican local elected officials there, and representatives of federal officeholders like Rep. Todd Akin and Sen. Kit Bond.

This was a township forum, not a tea party protest, but it quickly became clear that a number of tea party protesters also attended this event in order to have an opportunity to talk to some of their representatives. Here, though, the elected officials predominantly agreed with them, and the term “preaching to the choir” was used several times.

I love the tea party movement. I love that people are getting involved in their democracy. I appreciate that many tea party activists used to participate in real-world civics only through voting once — maybe twice — every four years, and now they are becoming more fully involved in the process. I would personally like to have heard a little less lecturing and condescension in some of the comments by the tea party activists last night, but you never get everything you want in life.

All in all, it was a terrific meeting and we thank Meramec Township for inviting us. Remember, Show-Me Institute staff and scholars are always available to speak about public policy to your political or civic group, of any party or affiliation.

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A short time ago I half-jokingly wrote about how the disaster movies of the 1970s helped fuel the safety-obsessed society we now live in. Smarter people than I have already constructed this equation: One overrated movie + one poorly timed, frightening, but ultimately minor accident + an enormous amount of activism from certain types opposed to nuclear power = a halt on expanded nuclear power in America + more dependence on the exact thing (oil) that environmentalists don’t like in the first place + higher energy costs for everyone.

What is the point of all this? AmerenUE wants to expand its nuclear plant in Cab Callaway County. The Fulton Sun has the story here, about a recent public hearing on the proposal. One of my neighbors showed up to oppose it:

Drey claimed that a natural disaster such as an earthquake or a terrorist attack would cause massive ecological and health problems for a very large area.

“Someone could get in with a plastic explosive through a metal detector and drop it into the plant and that would be the end of Callaway County and the rest of us,” she said.

Where to begin? First of all, the plant is already there (thankfully). It’s not like a terrorist is going to say, “Well, now they have two reactors instead of just one, so let’s target it. Why would we have wasted our time trying to detonate just one nuclear reactor? But now that there are two, it is worth our efforts!” The same goes for earthquakes, but I trust that the engineers who built it — and will build it — have, you know, considered that.

Everything has a cost and a risk. The extensive use of nuclear power has shown that it is safe — except, perhaps, when you let it be run by communists. Congressman Todd Akin (definitely not a communist, but an engineer) has proposed major revisions to American’s energy policy that include expanding the use the nuclear power:

“I have always been a supporter of nuclear energy,” Akin said. “The rewards are substantive as far as its low cost energy and its cleaner.” He noted that nuclear power becomes a more attractive energy source in the context of global warming.

I could not agree with him more.

The post Ameren’s Answer to Our Energy Needs appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Overall, the report was pretty fair. It made it clear that:

According to state law, it’s not the Akins’ job to inform the county. It’s the appraiser’s job to inspect the area physically.

No property owner in Missouri is responsible for informing the assessor if they believe their property is assessed to low. And with the high (and probably accurate) assessments on the three acres of residential property Akin owns, I am sure the congressman has long felt he paid his fair share of taxes. I just checked what they are paying each year in property taxes, and it is indeed very high, even with the benefits of two acres being agricultural. I am not going to post their personal tax info here, public info though it may be, but it is easy enough for anyone to do at the St. Louis County website if you don’t believe me.

This may be an interesting story, but the congressman has done absolutely nothing wrong. It may have been a scandal if the congressman or his family had appealed the valuation to get the designation changed to agricultural and claimed non-existing agricultural uses, but by all accounts that never happened. You might be surprised to know that there is no hard and fast rule as to what constitutes agricultural versus residential property on larger estates of more than one acre. The first acre, where the home is, will always be residential, but beyond that it is really up to the assessors.

This is not the first time I have heard complaints from people who live on smaller lots next to multi-acre estates about the agricultural designation and resulting tax benefits. I can’t recall the address, but when I worked for Kurt Odenwald on the County Council I remember getting calls about some 40-acre plot in far west county that had about 39 acres agricultural and 1 acre residential, with a very modest house. The neighbors, in their new McMansions on one-acre lots, were paying more in taxes for one acre than this person was for 40. There was nothing the assessor’s office could do about it, as the owner of the 40 acres kept a few horses on the land; agricultural seemed to be the correct designation.

Far from benefiting from his power as a congressman, Akin will almost certainly suffer for it as, because of his position, he may have to bow to public pressure and allow the assessor’s office to change the designation next year to residential without a fight. He would be well within his rights to fight to keep the agricultual designation, and something as simple as letting a pony roam the two acres, or planting a few tomato plants on them, would likely guarantee his success in that dispute. The St. Louis County assessor has over 300,000 properties it must assess every two years. There are going to be mistakes, oversights and confusion with so many lots. This one falls into the last category, sort of on the line between the two property classifications. However, just because the ball fell onto the right side of the line for Akin does not mean he did anything at all wrong or should be forced to give up his appeal rights because of media or political pressure.

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