Tax Code

As summarized by the AP: "A commission appointed by Gov. Jay Nixon is recommending changes to Missouri's tax credit system that could save as much as $220 million. The Tax Credit Review Commission on Tuesday recommended the elimination of 28 tax credit programs that it says have outlived their usefulness or do not create enough benefit. It said an additional 30 programs could be made more efficient."

Read the Commission's summary and report at http://tcrc.mo.gov. 

The Star hits the nail on the head: "The legislature spends extensive time weighing every dollar it appropriates. It should be as diligent in evaluating the dollars it forfeits through credits against future tax bills."

While some of Missouri’s tax credits are uniformly good for the state and its citizens, the biggest programs benefit developers, financers, lawyers and lobbyists while delivering questionable returns to the state.

Overall, Missouri’s tax credit policy cries out for more scrutiny and tighter controls. A commission appointed by Nixon appears to recognize that reality. Its members have recommended sunsets and/or caps on nearly all programs, even those that benefit senior citizens and domestic violence shelters.

Those are good policies. The legislature spends extensive time weighing every dollar it appropriates. It should be as diligent in evaluating the dollars it forfeits through credits against future tax bills.

Republicans are still saying that Democrats want to enact "the largest tax increase in American history."  Politifact looked at this claim and rated it "Pants on Fire."

Roy Blunt is lying about proposed Democratic tax polices in his new "jobs plan." Page 4 reads as follows:

[T]he government should never raise job-killing taxes during periods of high unemployment.  But Washington Democrats are about to impose the largest tax increase in the history of the country.  I will fight all tax increases, especially those that hurt the middle class and those that make it harder for Missouri job creators to hire new workers.

That Democrats are "are about to impose the largest tax increase in the history of the country" is just absurd.  PolitiFact.com broke down this myth when Sarah Palin spewed it a few days ago -- and rated the statement "Pants on Fire."  From the final two paragraphs of their analysis:

But again, letting all the tax cuts expire isn't the plan the Democrats are proposing, and it's not what [Fox News Sunday Chris Wallace] asked Palin.

Palin said, "Democrats are poised now to cause this largest tax increase in U.S. history." She was asked about tax cuts for the top 2 percent. Either Palin is confused about the revenue numbers involved with extending the tax cuts, or she's willfully distorting the Democratic plans. We'll let you be the judge of that. Regardless, Wallace was very specific about asking her about tax increases for the top 2 percent. And that does not represent the largest tax increase in history. The unlikely outcome that she seems to be talking about -- that all of the Bush tax cuts will be repealed -- wouldn't be the largest tax increase in history either. Palin read the number on her hand correctly, but that's about all she got right. So we rate her statement Pants on Fire.

Missourinet and the AP report that Senate President Charlie Shields (R-St. Joseph) and Speaker Ron Richard (R-Joplin) are both cool to the replace the state income tax with much higher sales taxes.  Missourinet's Bob Priddy:

Senate leader Charlie Shields does not think the bill will pass but he expects a robust debate. In the event it does clear the Senate, the proposal goes to the House, which passed the bill last year. But this year, Speaker Ron Richard sees problems. “I just want to make sure there’s not any uncertainty about where we’re moving, about schools formula, about libraries, about fire districts...And I can see the amendments on the floors now, everybody getting exempted out to kill the bill...I don’t think St. Louis can take 11 or 12 or 13 percent sales tax on their retail. I don’t think that would work and I don’t think that’s proper,” he says.

Rep. Roy Blunt is concerned that rich people (you know, people like you and me that earn more than a quarter of a million dollars every year) will cut back on their charitable contributions if they're only able to write off 28% of their charitable gifts, instead of 36% or 39%. As reported in the Post-Dispatch, Blunt thinks this "clearly isn’t the time to punish Good Samaritans for helping a neighbor in need."

Say what you will about the practical effects of changing the tax code for the wealthy, but I, for one, am glad that Blunt is standing up for the original meaning of the phrase Good Samaritan. As we all know, the most Christian kind of love and charity is the kind that's personally enriching. And if there was anything that Jesus cared about, it was rich people keeping their money.