Reply #382: KA & MS (Missouri) Op-Ed Bait-and-switch tax shift could hurt many people Kansas City Star Aug 22 [View All]

Conservatives in think tanks and state legislatures have long fantasized about a day in which citizens and businesses would pay little or no state taxes on incomes or earnings.

That kind of firepower should prompt a wake-up call in both states. While no one likes paying taxes on the fruits of their labor, jettisoning the income tax would result in higher prices on goods and services and would likely force even more drastic cuts to public education and other services. Both scenarios would be ruinous for poor and-middle-income households.

“Of all the states considering this, both Kansas and Missouri are at the top of the list,” a spokesman for the American Legislative Exchange Council approvingly told a reporter for The Star.

The blessing of the council, known as ALEC, raises a red flag. It is funded and dominated by free-market and corporate interests, who work with like-minded legislators to push various agendas.

In Missouri, a group backed by Sinquefield, a St. Louis multimillionaire, has filed 11 initiative petitions with the Missouri secretary of state. So far, nine have been approved for the November 2012 ballot if backers collect enough valid signatures from voters.

In Kansas, Brownback and some key lawmakers have signaled a wish to phase out the state income tax. No concrete proposal is on the table, but many predict that talk of lowering the income tax is likely to consume the next legislative session. Elected officials should always seek a tax balance that meets the state’s needs and promotes growth. In Kansas, lawmakers would be better off repealing the state’s many inexplicable and inequitable tax exemptions and use the revenue to restore badly needed state services. It’s easy to see why income tax elimination schemes have pushed their way to the forefront of the political landscape. They are of great long-term benefit to wealthy individuals and corporations, who are in a position to fund their causes.

But now is the time for those who would bear the brunt of these ideas to stand up and speak out.