Editorial: Missouri Senate declares class war against citizens : Stltoday

Editorial: Missouri Senate declares class war against citizens : Stltoday

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Most of the Senate’s other tax proposals are driven by a theological belief that shifting the tax burden from income to consumption, and paying welfare to corporations, will cause the state’s economy to blossom. Inasmuch as Missouri already has a business-friendly tax climate, this is a dubious proposition. “Come to Missouri, where the taxes are low, the roads are good and the schools and state services are crummy” is not much of an economic development slogan.

Data always trump belief. The Missouri Budget Project and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy have analyzed the impact of the Senate’s two biggest proposed changes — cutting income taxes and adding 1.5 cents in sales taxes. Both are progressive think-tanks, but the numbers they crunch are neutral.

• The poorest 20 percent of Missourians, those earning $18,000 a year or less, will pay $63 a year more in taxes.
• Those earning between $18,000 and $33,000 a year will pay $129 more.
• The middle quintile — those earning between $33,000 and $53,000 a year — will pay $150 a year more.
• The fourth quintile ($53,000 to $85,000 a year) will pay $149 a year more.
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That’s a grand total of 80 percent of Missourians who will pay more and get less: crummier schools, higher college tuitions (because state aid will continue to fall) and less access to worse state services. The poor are used to this. It remains to be seen whether the middle class will put up with it.

The only people who would come out ahead are those in the top 20 percent of taxpayers. And three-fourths of those — families with incomes of between $85,000 and $160,000 a year — are going to save an average of two bucks a month on their state taxes.