KC Star Mega Sales Tax Story Lacks Context Included in Previous Coverage

Today’s Kansas City Star story on efforts in Missouri to replace the income tax with a mega sales tax leave out some important points about how damaging these proposals could be to the state that the paper included in past coverage.

Specifically, in a previous Star story, it was noted that the Missouri state Office of Budget and Planning has said these proposals could leave the state of Missouri with a $1 billion dollar decrease in revenue.

The auditor’s financial analysis includes estimates from the state Office of Budget and Planning that suggest the tax structure as proposed could leave state government under-funded by more than $1 billion.

Also, Missouri state budget expert and former Commissioner of Administration under John Ashcroft Jim Moody has said these proposals could bankrupt the state or lower and middle income Missourians.

One analysis, by lobbyist and state budget expert Jim Moody, describes the sales tax proposals as “fiscally untenable” and suggests they will “either bankrupt the state, or in the alternative, bankrupt the poor and the working lower and middle income classes.”