Working Families

For reasons I won't pretend to understand, twelve Republican state representatives voted against extended unemployment benefits yesterday (HB 1544).

The legislation sponsored by Rep. Barney Fisher (R-Richards) passed 143-12, and will allow more than 62,000 Missourians to receive extended unemployment benefit, and not cost the state a dime.

Jason Brown, birther Cynthia Davis, birther Ed Emery, Doug Ervin, birther Tim Jones, Andrew Koenig, Will Kraus, Mike Leara, Brian Nieves, Mark Parkinson, Tom Self and Bryan Stevenson all opposed the extension.

The Star editorial board notes a rather glaring omission in the "Common Sense Solutions for Missouri" platform outlined Wednesday by Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, Senate President Charlie Shields and Speaker Ron Richard.

From the Missouri rotunda you can see…the Potomac?

Well, no. The river out there is the Missouri. But you wouldn’t know it from the odd “agenda” that Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder and Republican legislative leaders announced Wednesday.

Some “priorities” for the session: Oppose big government. Oppose the federal takeover of the health care system. Oppose federal cap-and-trade legislation. Oppose federal card check legislation.

You get the idea. Anything in there about bringing jobs to Missouri? Not a word.

Rep. Ellen Brandom (R-Sikeston) plans to reintroduce legislation this session that would direct the Department of Social Services to set up a drug-testing program for participants in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.  The tests would apply only to people for whom the Department decides there is a "reasonable cause" to investigate. If a person fails, they would be ineligible to receive benefits for one year.

Brandom says the bill she'll pre-file for the 2010 session will be be identical to the perfected version from last session (HB30).

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy has released a new study arguing that MIssouri's state taxes hit poor and middle class Missourians far harder than the wealthy.

Low- and middle-income families in Missouri pay a far higher share of their income in state and local taxes than the richest families in Missouri, according to a new study by the Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy...

When all Missouri taxes are totaled up, the study found that:

• Missouri families earning less than $17,000 -- the poorest fifth of Missouri’s non-elderly taxpayers -- pay 9.6 percent of their income in state and local taxes.
• Middle-income Missouri taxpayers -- those earning between $31,000 and $50,000 -- pay 9.5 percent of their income in Missouri state and local taxes.
• But the richest Missouri taxpayers -- with average incomes of $1,170,600 -- pay only 6.6percent of their income in Missouri state and local taxes.

The Drum Major Institute for Public Policy has issued its 2008 Congressional Scorecard breaking down the most important votes for middle class and low income families from last year.  It was a mixed bag from the Missouri delegation:

To create the rankings, the Drum Major Institute looks at "the good and the bad decisions Congress made in 2008—from the February stimulus bill to the Senate filibusters that killed legislation to address the home mortgage crisis and to assist the struggling auto industry."

The full scoop is at www.TheMiddleClass.org.