Two weeks ago, I pointed out that Missouri makes some poverty-stricken families pay state income tax. They could do an earned income tax credit (EITC) for anyone below poverty level, as the federal government does, but our legislature prefers to live in 1931, which is when our current tax brackets were established. At that time–and still–the top tax bracket was $9,000. But if you were earning $9,000 in 1931, you could afford a new Cadillac every couple of years. These days, $9,000 will get you bus transportation and Ramen Noodles.

Now a new study from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) adds to the outrage: At a time when Missouri is looking to cut its expenditures and generally doing so by slashing services to the poor, it turns out that the poorest Missouri families pay the highest percentage of their income in state and local taxes. The wealthy pay only two thirds as much of their income as the poor do.

• 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 lead author of the study, ITEP’s executive director Matthew Gardner, says:

“No one would ever design an income tax with lower tax rates for the best-off taxpayers. But that is exactly what Missouri’s tax system overall does: it allows the very wealthiest individuals to contribute less of their income, on average, than middle- and lower-income families must pay. In other words, Missouri has an unfair, regressive tax system.”

That’s why I don’t vote for sales taxes, even for good causes. They’re regressive. I suppose that’s cutting off my nose to spite my face. I mean, who suffers when needed services aren’t funded? Not the wealthy. They find ways to pay for what they want. It’s we middle class and poor people that miss out on what we need. And as long as Republicans–and spineless Democrats–control the legislature, they will continue to scoff at Jeanette Mott Oxford’s excellent proposal to reform the tax system, making more sales taxes necessary and increasing the burden on the poor.

Title for a Republican sonnet:

How do I love to screw working Missourians? Let me count the ways.