Susan Pendergrass is joined again by Elias Tsapelas, director of state budget and fiscal policy at the Show-Me Institute, for Part II of their conversation on the sweeping federal legislation known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” They unpack what the bill means for Missouri taxpayers, including changes to the standard deduction, tips and overtime, education savings accounts, and higher education policy. They also dig into the bill’s broader fiscal impact, from the growing federal deficit to the implementation challenges facing state governments.

Listen on Spotify

Listen on Apple Podcasts 

Listen on SoundCloud

Timestamps

00:00 Exploring the One Big Beautiful Bill
04:58 Tax Implications for Missourians
10:20 New Savings Accounts for Children
12:07 Changes in Higher Education
18:09 Federal Deficit and Debt Concerns

Listen to Part I Here

Episode Transcript: One Big Beautiful Bill Breakdown, Part II with Elias Tsapelas 

(Download Here)

Susan Pendergrass (00:00)
So I guess it turns out that the One Big Beautiful Bill was too big for us to talk about in one podcast. Elias, thanks for coming back. I realized after we stopped recording that there’s so much in there we didn’t even discuss. We barely even really got into it. So let’s talk about more of the One Big Beautiful Bill because it’s huge—hundreds, at least hundreds of pages long. And I can’t believe the people who voted on it read it through carefully. Now, as you’re going through it and learning things, I’d love for you to explain some of it to me.

Starting with—how does the no tax on tips and overtime work? I’ve heard a lot about this. I know it was a campaign promise. So is it true that if you’re waiting tables now and you get a few hundred bucks a night in tips, you don’t have to pay tax on it now?

Elias Tsapelas (00:51)
In theory, yes. Now, it’s not clear if it’s going to be something that impacts Missouri tax liability. It sort of impacts the federal tax code a little differently than the increased standard deduction and some of the other changes. So it might change some federal tax liability, but unless Missouri’s legislature changes some stuff, it’s not going to immediately impact Missouri taxes.

Susan Pendergrass (01:16)
But why—do you have to itemize to do it?

Elias Tsapelas (01:19)
No. Basically, Missouri has rolling conformity with the federal government. Missouri takes its gross income from the federal government, and the tax on tips and overtime piece isn’t going to impact the gross income calculation. So it may or may not become an issue in Missouri.

There’s also a big open question here about how much income tip workers are actually claiming, and how much that will change if you say it’s not taxed—because if they weren’t declaring it before, we don’t really know what the change will be.

Susan Pendergrass (02:05)
Yeah, so if you walk home with a wad of cash, you’re not necessarily going to add it up and write it down and claim it.

Elias Tsapelas (02:09)
It still might not be worth declaring all of it. But if Missouri brings it into the state income tax code, it could cost quite a bit of money. There are quite a few tax provisions here—especially on corporate tax—where we really don’t know how much it’s going to cost, but it’s probably going to be significant. There’s full expensing, depreciation, all kinds of things that are going to change both federal and Missouri tax liability. And then there was the standard deduction change we mentioned last time.

Susan Pendergrass (02:47)
Okay. So one thing that does impact Missourians is our tax credit scholarship program, where you can donate to a scholarship-granting organization like the Archdiocese of St. Louis, and they give out scholarships. Right now, you can get a Missouri state income tax credit for that—up to half of how much you owe the state. And now there’s a new program where you can take a federal credit of up to $1,700 for donating to these organizations.

You can’t get credits for both on the same donation, but you could donate up to half your tax liability and get the Missouri credit, and then separately donate $1,700 and get the federal credit. I know there’s a lot of rulemaking still to come, and I also know this program doesn’t start until January 2027. So it won’t affect people’s returns until April 2028. But—how do you think that’s going to work? Do you have any idea based on what you’ve read?

Elias Tsapelas (03:54)
Well, Missouri has to opt in first, right? I think the first step is getting the rules out and seeing which states opt in. I would assume Missouri will. The hope is that this becomes something more people understand and take advantage of.

In Missouri, even though we have tons of tax credits that people do use, it takes a while to build it into tax preparation tools like TurboTax. So you kind of have to know what’s going on. Maybe once the federal piece is in place—and there are also changes to the child tax credit—that’ll help.

Susan Pendergrass (04:24)
Spread the word. How’s that changing?

Elias Tsapelas (04:51)
Some of the temporary provisions from the 2017 bill are now made permanent. One of the things the One Big Beautiful Bill does is take temporary changes and make them permanent. We’ll see in a few years how many of these stay.

Susan Pendergrass (05:10)
So the child tax credit is now permanent?

Elias Tsapelas (05:13)
Yes. The changes made in 2017 are now permanent. It’s higher now, and there’s more of it that’s refundable. There’s still an income threshold to get the maximum amount. I think there are going to be a lot of tax credit changes. The bill also got rid of a lot of renewable tax credits. So there are a lot of changes to tax policy for both businesses and individuals. I think people will need to start thinking about their Missouri taxes a little differently, at least for the next few years.

Susan Pendergrass (05:59)
Another piece is the savings accounts for children—kind of like IRAs for kids. I’ve read that anyone born after January 1, 2024, or maybe anyone currently under age 18, is eligible. The IRS has to open the accounts, and you need a Social Security number. For kids born between January 1, 2024, and 2026, the government deposits the first $1,000.

Elias Tsapelas (06:52)
Yeah. What I was trying to figure out is how these differ from 529 plans. I think these will be harder to withdraw from. They do come with tax benefits for employers and others contributing, but taxes will have to be paid when the money comes out.

Susan Pendergrass (07:25)
Yes—capital gains. With 529s, the money goes in pre-tax and comes out tax-free if used for education. These accounts are less flexible. You can take money out for education, a house, or a business, but otherwise there’s an early withdrawal penalty plus capital gains. It feels gimmicky, since the government only deposits $1,000 until 2028 when the program expires.

But for many low-income kids, this could be their only savings. It’s meant to help those who wouldn’t have a 529. They were originally going to be called “Invest in America Accounts,” but they’re now called “Trump Accounts.”

Elias Tsapelas (08:50)
I’m curious to see if the $1,000 is the only money ever deposited into these accounts for most people. It may not be worth putting in more, but even with tax obligations, it’s still free money.

Susan Pendergrass (09:27)
Right. You turn 18 and have $10,000—it’s not nothing. But some worry that a future Democratic president with control of Congress could expand the program—like depositing $500 annually for anyone under 18. It starts to look like a form of universal basic income. But I suspect it’ll go away—it feels gimmicky.

Elias Tsapelas (10:16)
I’m curious if the government will make it easier to use for college or similar expenses. There are a lot of higher education changes in the bill too. As someone with student loans, I’m getting emails every day about them.

Susan Pendergrass (10:33)
Yeah. So tell me—what are the changes to higher ed?

Elias Tsapelas (10:43)
Well…

Susan Pendergrass (10:46)
I’ve heard it might hurt community colleges, but I don’t know why. Do you?

Elias Tsapelas (10:49)
There are new caps on loan amounts and some income-based repayment plans are being eliminated. For example, the SAVE repayment plan created by the Biden administration has been tied up in court. Interest collection is resuming, but payments aren’t due yet. Borrowers need to switch plans, but the old ones are gone. The new plan tries to prevent negative amortization, but it’s still unclear how well that will work.

Grad students will be able to borrow less. The government wants loans repaid more quickly. After five years of paused payments, there’s a huge administrative burden now to unwind all of this.

Susan Pendergrass (12:11)
I know—since the pandemic.

Elias Tsapelas (12:17)
Exactly. There’s going to be a big process for certifying income and re-establishing payments. Colleges are nervous—lower borrowing limits could change students’ decisions. And I don’t know if the federal government is prepared to roll all of this out smoothly. I still need to re-set my auto-withdrawal.

Susan Pendergrass (12:56)
Yeah. It feels like we have to wait six months or a year to see what actually happens. Even the work requirements for SNAP and Medicaid were pushed out beyond the midterms. So while people are celebrating or panicking, a lot of this is still TBD.

Elias Tsapelas (13:26)
Yeah. And when people talk about “cuts,” especially to Medicaid, they’re mostly referring to ten-year projections. But a lot of the actual cuts are back-loaded. The benefits hit first—then the cuts. And some of those cuts may never happen. There’s also a big expansion of health savings accounts. People with bronze marketplace plans or direct primary care arrangements could use them, but rules still need to be written.

Susan Pendergrass (14:38)
I read there might be fewer subsidies, maybe higher premiums?

Elias Tsapelas (14:44)
Depends. There’s going to be a bill later this year to debate extending the enhanced COVID-era subsidies. But those subsidies created a kind of shadow market—shady dealers signing people up for plans they didn’t even know they had. About 2 million people were enrolled in multiple subsidized marketplace plans last year. So now there’s a push to reintroduce some “skin in the game.” But we’ll see what ends up mattering or going into effect.

Susan Pendergrass (16:04)
And our senator is already trying to undo parts of the bill he voted for.

Elias Tsapelas (16:08)
Yeah, especially the provider tax piece. That would help rein in spending, but the cuts don’t go into effect for several years—giving time for backtracking. If none of the pay-fors happen and only the expensive parts do, this bill just becomes even more costly.

Susan Pendergrass (17:08)
What does this bill, even optimistically, do to the federal deficit?

Elias Tsapelas (17:15)
I still need to see estimates, but we’re looking at adding at least $4 trillion to the deficit. Possibly more, depending on what’s made permanent.

Susan Pendergrass (17:53)
I thought Republicans cared about balanced budgets. This feels irresponsible. What do you think?

Elias Tsapelas (18:08)
It’s a lot easier to say you’re for fiscal responsibility than to actually do it. With Medicaid, people say cut waste—but cutting funding means cutting payments to hospitals, doctors, and nurses. And those tax cuts were always going to be extended. Every person taking the standard deduction is getting a bigger deduction. That costs money.

The real long-term budget problems are in Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security—none of which were addressed. So someone will have to get back to those eventually.

Susan Pendergrass (19:48)
Yeah. Social Security’s trust fund is going to run dry soon—maybe within 10 years. The numbers are so big, it starts to feel imaginary. People can’t wrap their heads around what it would take to have a balanced budget. Both parties just keep giving stuff away, so you’d be foolish to sit on the sidelines.

Elias Tsapelas (20:24)
Yeah—it’s just different groups they’re giving to. This bill was very expensive. And I think future efforts will make it even more so by eliminating what little cost savings exist.

Susan Pendergrass (21:03)
The SALT deduction, for example—capped at $10,000 in 2017, now up to $40,000. That’s a $30,000 swing. For Californians, that’s huge.

Elias Tsapelas (21:27)
Yeah, and the benefit mostly goes to higher-income people. Even in Missouri, some homeowners might benefit—but it mostly helps the coasts. And it gives high-tax states more room to raise taxes, since the federal deduction cushions the blow.

Susan Pendergrass (22:19)
Exactly. Crazy stuff. Well, I think we’ve covered a lot. I won’t make you come back again, but there’s so much detail—it’s not really what either side thinks it is.

Elias Tsapelas (22:45)
I agree. Especially with Medicaid and SNAP. And states will carry a big burden implementing this. Some will do it well, some will fight every piece. There’s going to be a lot of news as this all rolls out.

Susan Pendergrass (23:46)
Totally. Not directly related, but recently I’ve met people surprised by the real ID requirement. It’s been around for 10–15 years, and Missouri resisted it. Some states just don’t want to jump into federal programs.

Elias Tsapelas (24:04)
Yeah—I’ve seen signs about it at TSA forever. Always “effective in 3 months,” then postponed. But it finally happened.

Susan Pendergrass (24:11)
Right. And this summer, people are finally getting real IDs. Missouri was one of the last to implement it. So I don’t expect the state to jump on many of these changes either. But there’s still plenty of time to talk about it all again.

Elias Tsapelas (24:28)
Yes.

Produced by Show-Me Opportunity

The post One Big Beautiful Bill Breakdown, Part II with Elias Tsapelas appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

In opinion survey research, the number of people surveyed is less important than randomness. A survey of 2,000 people who themselves decided to complete an online questionnaire, for example, may be less valuable than a survey of 200 people who were contacted at random. Without adequate randomization, survey results may over-represent the views of a group of passionate partisans.

Unscientific survey data—data lacking adequate randomization—has played a big role in the debate about whether or not to build a new single terminal at MCI. Some of it is due to passionate partisans; some of it is due to questionable reporting. Much if not all of it creates the sense that building a new terminal is more popular than it is.

Consider some questionable reporting. The Kansas City Business Journal published a front-page piece indicating that the average TSA wait time at MCI was 29 minutes. Anyone who has flown from Kansas City would be suspicious of that figure, and other average wait times should have suggested to reporters that the data was problematic. (Jacksonville and Phoenix airports both listed an average TSA wait time of zero!). Kevin Koster, who served on the Mayor’s Airport Terminal Advisory Group, was skeptical, and he followed up with his own research (see here and here). In short, the TSA reports that MCI’s actual average wait time was 3.63 minutes. The discrepancy is due to the fact that the Business Journal data came from a website in which travelers report their own wait times without any independent verification. The Business Journal basically relied on an online survey that has little or no scientific validity—perhaps travelers whose wait times were uncharacteristically long were overrepresented among the website’s respondents.

Even some of the other, likely scientifically valid polling that has been reported fails to meet the ethical standards set by the American Association of Public Opinion Researchers (AAPOR) because it does not disclose all the questions asked.

Then there is the Aviation Department’s own online survey. At the City Council’s August 10 Business Session, department officials provided an overview of their presentations to groups across Kansas City about the need for a new terminal. After their presentation (which included a long discussion of the Aviation Department’s own scientifically invalid survey of session attendees), Councilman Jermaine Reed offered a startling admission [starts 19:26],

I can tell you that every time I fly I certainly try to get on the survey and make sure I mark everything bad about the airport. I don’t say anything good. I put no, no, one, one, zero, zero. What can we improve? Everything.  In my comments so … I shouldn’t probably tell you that. If you see the comments it is probably me.

Proponents for a new terminal are aware of public misgivings. Sadly, rather than having the serious and legitimate concerns of skeptics addressed, we have seen favoritism, secrecy, and now questionable polling that creates the misleading impression that the public is on board with their plans. Kansas City deserves better. 

The post About All Those Airport Surveys appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Could the airport just be a legacy project? Two years ago, then–Aviation Department Director Mark VanLoh made it seem that way when he told the Northland Regional Chamber of Commerce, “You don’t have [all the information] yet. We don’t even have it yet. I know what I want because I want a new airport.” He just wanted it.

VanLoh is gone, but the strange enthusiasm for a single terminal continues. The new plan is just as over-the-top as the old one. The justifications for the spending come and go—claims of EPA mandates, TSA concerns, and airlines’ refusal to expand services—but the project itself remains the same: a $1.2-billion single terminal that is actually a downsizing of what we have now.

What is new in this round of the discussion is the financing and no-bid contracting. But regardless of who finances and builds the airport, the risk to Kansas City comes from the possibility of increased fees to airlines and passengers. Right now, Kansas City’s airport is very cheap for airlines, and travelers benefit with lots of flights from here. Increase the costs to airlines, and we risk losing that competitive advantage. Other airports have suffered after building new terminals for just that reason (Consider Cincinnati, Sacramento, or San Jose.).

The good news is that the city is no longer claiming that the airlines agreed to finance the project. This was never the case, despite incorrect claims from the Kansas City Star and the Kansas City Business Journal. In truth, the airlines merely agreed to pay higher rent for a new terminal while reserving their right to renegotiate once the terminal is built. They did not issue or back any debt; they accepted no risk.

Proponents of a new terminal are fond of telling us that the new terminal idea is not a Taj Mahal. In fact, they’ve been using that curious term over and over again for years (see the Google search here). The Taj Mahal, of course, is a 400-year-old elaborate mausoleum in India built to house an emperor’s wife. Such determination to settle for nothing less than a new terminal, however, combined with the candor of Mark VanLoh and the out-of-hand dismissal of cheaper alternatives, suggests that this is exactly what the new terminal is: a modern monument to political ego—not what is best for Kansas City.

The post Kansas City’s Airport: A Monument to Political Ego appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

The post Time for the TSA to Pack Its Bags? appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

On Thursday, according to Reuters, an American Airlines executive testified before a congressional subcommittee that “airport screening delays have caused more than 70,000 American Airlines customers and 40,000 checked bags to miss their flights this year.”

Kansas City International Airport (MCI) uses a private security firm rather than the TSA, and I wrote to American Airlines to ask if they tracked the number of flights missed as MCI due to security. Their media representative quickly responded that they do track it, “but at the current time, we haven’t seen an issue at MCI for American.”

Proponents of building a new, $1.2 billion terminal at MCI are going to show pictures of as many long lines as they can at MCI to justify the expense. But there are long lines all over the country—even in new, single-terminal airports. At least for one airline, MCI is not seeing the problems that are occurring elsewhere.

The post No Issue at MCI for American Airlines appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Why not? Certainly, size is a consideration. MCI is a mid-sized airport and not a hub like Chicago’s O’Hare airport. But there's more to it. According to The Chicago Tribune (emphasis added):

Private contractors also work well for certain types of airports—Kansas City, for example, has a terminal with multiple checkpoints, and workers can be shifted quickly depending on need, the [airport management consultant Steven] Baldwin report found. Neither San Francisco nor Kansas City has reported the lines seen at O'Hare and Midway.

This should not be surprising. Regular readers of this blog know that we’ve been impressed with private screening and the multi-terminal design for some time. And we suspect most people who fly share this view.

An expensive new terminal may be popular among Kansas City political leaders and their developer cronies, but it is unlikely to improve wait times, convenience, or safety.

The post Long Security Lines? Not at MCI appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

But not every airport in Missouri need fear the meltdown (or tantrum) of the TSA.  One lucky airport is Kansas City International (MCI), which contracts security out to the private sector and does not use the TSA. MCI is one of a handful of major airports across the United States (including San Francisco) that participate in the Screening Partnership Program (SPP). In this program, the TSA sets standards for airport security, but the airport itself is allowed to contract service out to qualified vendors. Using contractors for screening is mainly touted as a money-saving measure, but it also allows an airport to essentially fire its security team if it isn’t performing. Compare that with the normal operating procedure: no matter how bad things get at Saint Louis-Lambert International Airport (STL) or Chicago O’Hare (ORD), the TSA cannot and will not be fired.

The map below shows airports that are participating in the SPP program.

So why haven’t more airports in Missouri and nationwide opted out of the TSA? In fact, many of them have tried, including Springfield-Branson Airport (SGF) in Southwest Missouri. Unfortunately, for many airports the TSA has held up the application process to join the SPP. TSA officials have argued to Congress that actual TSA officers are better and more efficient than private screeners, justifying their foot-dragging on the SPP program. It seems unlikely that such a claim will survive the summer, and large airports across the country are already telling the TSA that enough is enough.

One of the greatest benefits any airport can provide to the flying public is reliably short security lines. But aside from MCI, commercial airports in Missouri don’t currently have any control over this amenity. TSA’s current failings might finally create an impetus to reform airport security and expand the SPP program, and airports like SGF and STL should take advantage.

The post Be Like Kansas City-Avoid the TSA appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

In fairness, my colleague Joe Miller recently wrote that there are some reasons why a city might rightfully consider building a new terminal. The cost of current maintenance may be more expensive than a modern replacement, or a new terminal may be needed to accommodate increased traffic. Neither of those apply to MCI. While our traffic is up moderately, no one is arguing that we need to build for increased capacity. In fact, the new terminal proposal from the Aviation Department would reduce the number of gates we have now.

No one is arguing that the costs of maintaining the current MCI are prohibitive, either. Supporters of a new terminal seem to have strictly cosmetic concerns.

As for doing what we want airports to do, MCI is serving admirably. Consider the recent developments.

• In 2014, MCI picked up service from Spirit Airlines, and Seaport Airlines added service. Southwest announced that service to Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. has been approved.
• In 2015, Spirit started offering direct nonstop flights to Los Angeles. Allegiant Airlines will be flying nonstop to Florida from MCI, and Southwest offers new direct service New York LaGuardia, and Orange County, California. American Airlines added nonstop flights from Kansas City to Miami.
• And in 2016, Frontier Airlines will add flights to Atlanta, Chicago, and Philadelphia. Southwest recently expanded service in the form of direct flights to San Antonio.

In January, the Star catalogued some of MCI’s gains, including that annual traffic has grown each year since 2012 with the terminal we have now. Supporters of a rebuild point to possible (but by no means certain) increases in traffic as a result of a new terminal. But as Miller concluded in 2014:

To sum it up, the airlines (and common sense) say that building an expensive new terminal will not increase demand for air travel. Quite the contrary, the higher costs to airlines and passengers may mean fewer flights. Even if we agree with business leaders that MCI requires more amenities, certainly there is a cheaper way of providing these than a $1.2 billion new terminal plan. The cost is so much greater than the supposed benefits that the plan looks more like a vanity project than a sound investment.

In short, Kansas City’s airport is doing well. It has won high marks for its convenience; we’re unlikely to suffer the long waits seen at other airports because MCI does not use the TSA for security. Importantly, airlines seem eager to come and expand their service (despite their claims to the contrary). It is unlikely that Kansas City could improve on this. In fact, in taking on mountains of debt we risk losing the competitive advantage that many of us now take for granted. 

The post MCI Is the Envy of its Peers appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Kevin Koster, a member of the Airport Terminal Advisory Group empanelled by the mayor two years ago to consider the wisdom of a $1 billion new terminal, reacted on Twitter,

A single terminal would have had to be completely evac. TSA told KCI task force this was advantage of current design

Back in March 2014, The Kansas City Business Journal reported that a TSA official did exactly that [emphasis added]:

The post MCI and the Evacuation That Wasn’t appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

This statement is simply not true. In fact, Kansas City International Airport (MCI) has contracted for private screening through the Screening Partnership Program (SPP) for more than a decade. Under that program, the TSA sets standards for screening and selects a qualified vendor. Even compensation must match TSA standards. Kansas City is not an anomaly. In total, 21 airports, including San Francisco International Airport, use private screening.

The main reason airports opt for private screening is price. According to a report by the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, an airport like LAX (which uses TSA) could cut security costs by more than 40 percent if it moved to private screening. That more airports do not use private screening is largely the fault of the TSA itself, which the Government Accountability Office has consistently criticized for dragging its feet on improving and expanding SPP.

From a security standpoint, multiple studies show that private screeners do as good, or better, jobs than TSA screeners. And while we are now learning this is no high hurdle, at least a private company can lose its contract for bad performance; the same cannot be said of the TSA.

As an airport screening agency, the TSA is failing the flying public. In Saint Louis and elsewhere, perhaps it is time airport screening was privately bid out and the TSA receded to a regulatory role.

The post Private Airport Screening a Viable Option for U.S. Airports appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

In the United States, due to significant financing advantages given to publicly owned airports and onerous federal regulations, all but one of the 502 commercial service airports in the United States are publicly owned, most by local municipalities. That one private airport is Branson Airport in southern Missouri. As the case study points out:

The success of Branson Airport may be uncertain, but one of the features of private enterprise is that individuals and companies risk their own capital, not of that of their fellow citizens, in hopes of a larger return.

The other six commercial service airports in Missouri are all publicly owned, the largest of which are Lambert-St. Louis International Airport (STL) and Kansas City International Airport (MCI). However, they also can benefit from partial or full privatization. The most basic level of privatization, contracting airport services, already is in place at both Lambert and Kansas City. These contracts allow the airports to attain services through competitive bidding from the private sector. MCI is one of the few airports to privatize its security screening through TSA’s Screening Partnership Program (SPP).

However, airports in Missouri can go much further in privatizing operations. This includes privatizing the management of airports or even leasing the airports to private entities through the Airport Privatization Pilot Program (APPP). Kansas City considered this option for MCI once before. This program is actually the only way a municipality can use proceeds from its airports on other public goods. However, the program requires a complex negotiation between the local municipality, the FAA, airport workers, and the airlines. As the case study states:

Should Kansas City pursue the APPP route of privatization, the city could expect significant proceeds from the sale. However, it would require complex and lengthy negotiations with the potential buyers, airlines, and the FAA in order to participate in a program with no record of long-term success.

The full or partial privatization of airports can have many benefits for air service in the state, whether it is simply reduced costs or financial gain from an airport sale. The case study “Government Privatization in Missouri: Successes, Risks, and Opportunities” outlines some of the possibilities that might allow Missouri to create an example of airport privatization for the rest of the nation.

The post Privatization: Airport Possibilities appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Springfield-Branson has been invited to reapply for permission to use private screeners and join Kansas City International Airport as one of the current 16 airports that contract private security firms.

The new application process has more requirements than it did before February, but hey, it’s a good start. Having private security firms provides competition for the TSA and that’s good because it boosts efficiency and cuts costs.

My colleague David Stokes put it best in a blog post earlier this year:

“The very existence of competition brings a greater degree of efficiency to the TSA, even if it continues to do the screening in the vast majority of American airports . . . but if the presence of competition in a small number of airports serves to reduce the TSA’s complacency, that benefits all of us.”

The post Opting Out of the TSA appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

I think the key issue here is the idea of competition. In a report for San Diego, the authors at Reason put it well (emphasis added):

“Taxpayers win whenever there is competition, even when the competition is won by public sector providers” said Adam B. Summers, policy analyst at Reason Foundation and co-author of the report. “They get more accountability, better results, and lower costs. […]”

Private screening companies are used at only 16 airports in the county. Springfield-Branson would have been no. 17. The very existence of competition brings a greater degree of efficiency to the TSA, even if it continues to do the screening in the vast majority of American airports. I know we aren’t used to thinking about the terms “government employees” and “complacency” together, but if the presence of competition in a small number of airports serves to reduce the TSA’s complacency, that benefits all of us.

One six-year-old report found that private screeners did a better job than government employees, but another report said that there are no cost savings because the TSA still overseees the private security companies, which operate according to the same requirements, rules, etc.

I believe the real reason for this denial of the private screening option has more to do with organized labor. From the KMOV Channel 4 report on this story:

The American Federation of Government Employees, the nation’s largest federal employee union, has praised [TSA Administrator John] Pistole’s decision.

TSA employees will be deciding on union representation shortly. Government unions are generally the most ardent opponents of any type of privatization.

Anytime I write anything about Branson, I always think, “What would Yakov say?” So, here is my best attempt at a Yakov Smirnoff–style joke about this situation:

In USA, people worry they the screeners will touch their junk as they board the plane. In Russia, people worry about the plane itself because the whole plane is made of junk!

Fire off better jokes in the comments, if you dare!

The post Private vs. Public Airport Screeners: Who Gets to Touch Your Junk? appeared first on Show-Me Institute.