Jacology: Missouri Legislature Tax Cuts

(KPLR) – The Missouri Legislature’s ability to ignore evidence and reason reminds me of the story of the kid who wanted a pony for Christmas. He wakes up Christmas morning and finds the Christmas tree is surrounded by reeking piles of horse manure. The kid is overjoyed and begins jumping up and down. His brother asks him why. The kid replies, with all this horse stuff there must be a pony here somewhere.

It’s called magical thinking and the Missouri general assembly is filled with true believers. The latest example? The legislature is about to cut income taxes on both individuals and businesses. At the same time, they’re going to raise the state sales tax. This of course will hurt the state by slashing revenue. It’ll also hurt poorer people by making them pay more for goods.

But state lawmakers don’t see it that way. Senator Eric Schmidt of Glendale, one of the sponsors, says he’s quote “confident everything will be okay.” Um, really? Slashing the income taxes, supporters admit will cost the state of Missouri between 425 million and 700 million dollars every year.

But Schmidt and others are jumping up and down in the Christmas tree pile of horse droppings. They’re convinced there’s a pony in there somewhere. Because they’re convinced that the lower taxes will draw more businesses to Missouri and those new businesses will make up for the hundreds of millions of dollars they’re cutting.

Um, fellas? A little simple math. Less money equals less money. It means more cuts to state programs. Missouri already has some of the nation’s lowest business taxes and that hasn’t attracted businesses. This won’t either. It’ll just mean fatter profits and fewer services. Now where’s that pony supposed to be again?

I’m Charles Jaco and that’s Jacology.