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Tag Archives: regressive taxation

Campaign Finance: bedfellows – part 6

24 Thursday Jul 2014

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

campaign finance, initiative, missouri, Missouri Ethics Commission, regressive taxation, taxes, transportation

It doesn’t end. The past two days, at the Missouri Ethics Commission, for the folks promoting a regressive tax on the ballot:

C131133 07/22/2014 MISSOURIANS FOR SAFE TRANSPORTATION & NEW JOBS INC International Union of Operating Engineers 1125 Seventeenth Street Northwest Washington DC 20038 7/22/2014 $75,000.00

C131133 07/23/2014 MISSOURIANS FOR SAFE TRANSPORTATION & NEW JOBS INC Laborers International Union of North America Laborers Local No 110 4532 S Lindbergh Blvd Sunset Hills MO 63127 7/23/2014 $50,000.00

[emphasis added]

C131133 07/22/2014 MISSOURIANS FOR SAFE TRANSPORTATION & NEW JOBS INC American Bridge 1000 American Bridge Way Coraopolis PA 15108 7/22/2014 $20,000.00

C131133 07/22/2014 MISSOURIANS FOR SAFE TRANSPORTATION & NEW JOBS INC St. Louis Regional Chamber One Metropolitan Square Suite 1300 St Louis MO 63102 7/22/2014 $10,000.00

C131133 07/23/2014 MISSOURIANS FOR SAFE TRANSPORTATION & NEW JOBS INC Norris Asphalt Paving Co PO Box 695 Ottumwa IA 52501 7/23/2014 $10,000.00

C131133 07/23/2014 MISSOURIANS FOR SAFE TRANSPORTATION & NEW JOBS INC Missouri Asphalt Pavement Assn PO Box 104855 Jefferson City MO 65110 7/23/2014 $7,500.00

C131133 07/23/2014 MISSOURIANS FOR SAFE TRANSPORTATION & NEW JOBS INC Polsinelli 900 W 48th Place Suite 900 Kansas City MO 64112 7/23/2014 $7,500.00

C131133 07/23/2014 MISSOURIANS FOR SAFE TRANSPORTATION & NEW JOBS INC Witte Bros. Exchange Inc. 575 Witte Industrial Ct Troy MO 63379 7/23/2014 $15,000.00

[emphasis added]

You know, if we lived in a Libertarian paradise we wouldn’t have to bother funding any socialist public infrastructure by any means.

Previously:

Campaign Finance: bedfellows – part 5 (July 21, 2014)

Campaign Finance: there is no end (July 18, 2014)

Campaign Finance: Goliath and David (July 18, 2014)

Campaign Finance: bedfellows – part 4 (July 10, 2014)

Campaign Finance: there is no end (July 7, 2014)

Campaign Finance: bedfellows – part 3 (July 4, 2014)

Campaign Finance: bedfellows – part 2 (July 2, 2014)

Campaign Finance: bedfellows (June 27, 2014)

Campaign Finance: “Your majesty, the special interests are regressive…” (June 27, 2014)

Campaign Finance: Prepare yourself for the ads… (June 24, 2014)

Campaign Finance: the dough keeps rolling in (June 22, 2014)

Campaign Finance: escalation (June 17, 2014)

Campaign Finance: What’s an increase in regressive taxes among friends anyway? (June 10, 2014)

Nix the sales tax: A question of fairness – and progessive identity (June 9, 2014)

Gov. Jay Nixon: “…This tax hike is neither a fair nor fiscally responsible solution…” (June 2, 2014)  

Campaign Finance: bedfellows – part 5

22 Tuesday Jul 2014

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

campaign finance, initiative, missouri, Missouri Ethics Commission, regressive taxation, taxes, transportation

Today, at the Missouri Ethics Commission, for the folks promoting a regressive tax on the ballot:

C131133 07/21/2014 MISSOURIANS FOR SAFE TRANSPORTATION & NEW JOBS INC International Union of Operating Engineers Local #101 6601 Winchester Ave Ste 280 Kansas City MO 64133 7/21/2014 $25,000.00

[emphasis added]

C131133 07/21/2014 MISSOURIANS FOR SAFE TRANSPORTATION & NEW JOBS INC Kissick Construction Co Inc. 8131 Indiana Kansas City MO 64132 7/21/2014 $10,000.00

C131133 07/21/2014 MISSOURIANS FOR SAFE TRANSPORTATION & NEW JOBS INC Civic Progress Action Committee 800 Market St Ste 1900 Saint Louis MO 63101 7/21/2014 $15,000.00

[emphasis added]

$10,000.00 here, $25,000.00, pretty soon you’re talking about some serious money…

Previously:

Campaign Finance: there is no end (July 18, 2014)

Campaign Finance: Goliath and David (July 18, 2014)

Campaign Finance: bedfellows – part 4 (July 10, 2014)

Campaign Finance: there is no end (July 7, 2014)

Campaign Finance: bedfellows – part 3 (July 4, 2014)

Campaign Finance: bedfellows – part 2 (July 2, 2014)

Campaign Finance: bedfellows (June 27, 2014)

Campaign Finance: “Your majesty, the special interests are regressive…” (June 27, 2014)

Campaign Finance: Prepare yourself for the ads… (June 24, 2014)

Campaign Finance: the dough keeps rolling in (June 22, 2014)

Campaign Finance: escalation (June 17, 2014)

Campaign Finance: What’s an increase in regressive taxes among friends anyway? (June 10, 2014)

Nix the sales tax: A question of fairness – and progessive identity (June 9, 2014)

Gov. Jay Nixon: “…This tax hike is neither a fair nor fiscally responsible solution…” (June 2, 2014)  

Campaign Finance: there is no end

18 Friday Jul 2014

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

campaign finance, initiative, missouri, Missouri Ethics Commission, regressive taxation, taxes, transportation

Today, at the Missouri Ethics Commission, for the folks promoting a regressive tax on the ballot:

C131133 07/18/2014 MISSOURIANS FOR SAFE TRANSPORTATION & NEW JOBS INC Missouri Chamber PAC PO Box 149 Jefferson City MO 65102 7/18/2014 $10,000.00

C131133 07/18/2014 MISSOURIANS FOR SAFE TRANSPORTATION & NEW JOBS INC Heavy Constructors Assoc of the greater Kansas City Area 3101 Broadway, Suite 780 Kansas City MO 64111 7/18/2014 $50,000.00

C131133 07/18/2014 MISSOURIANS FOR SAFE TRANSPORTATION & NEW JOBS INC Capital Quarries Co., Inc. PO Box 105050 Jefferson City MO 65110 7/18/2014 $20,000.00

C131133 07/18/2014 MISSOURIANS FOR SAFE TRANSPORTATION & NEW JOBS INC Chester Bross Construction Company PO Box 430 Hannibal MO 63401 7/18/2014 $50,000.00

[emphasis added]

Keeping up with this is like trying to take a sip from a firehose.

Previously:

Campaign Finance: Goliath and David (July 18, 2014)

Campaign Finance: bedfellows – part 4 (July 10, 2014)

Campaign Finance: there is no end (July 7, 2014)

Campaign Finance: bedfellows – part 3 (July 4, 2014)

Campaign Finance: bedfellows – part 2 (July 2, 2014)

Campaign Finance: bedfellows (June 27, 2014)

Campaign Finance: “Your majesty, the special interests are regressive…” (June 27, 2014)

Campaign Finance: Prepare yourself for the ads… (June 24, 2014)

Campaign Finance: the dough keeps rolling in (June 22, 2014)

Campaign Finance: escalation (June 17, 2014)

Campaign Finance: What’s an increase in regressive taxes among friends anyway? (June 10, 2014)

Nix the sales tax: A question of fairness – and progessive identity (June 9, 2014)

Gov. Jay Nixon: “…This tax hike is neither a fair nor fiscally responsible solution…” (June 2, 2014)

Senate Bill 26: Everybody knows that robbing the poor to pay the rich is a bad idea

09 Tuesday Apr 2013

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

border war, Economic Growth, missouri, regressive taxation, SB26, Tax policy, tax reform

There’s been lots written about why Missouri Senate Bill 26 is a bad idea (some examples:  here, here and here). Most obviously, it offers big tax savings to  corporations and other wealthy Missourians; these savings, however, would be partially paid for by raising sales taxes, eating up a disproportionately larger percentage of the income of poor and middle class folks and exacerbating income inequality. The remaining revenue losses would have to be made up by cutting services offered by the state. The problems with the proposal are obvious while the promised benefits are nebulous since plenty of evidence indicates that lowering or eliminating income taxes isn’t the boon to growth that the right claims it is (see, for instance here and here).

It’s pretty clear who benefits from this type of change and who doesn’t (hint: most of us don’t do so well), so Missouri GOP pols are attempting to justify this giveaway to cronies and corporate sponsors by inciting fears of a border war with Kansas, claiming that Missouri businesses will relocate to take advantage of the no-tax climate on the other side. While it is not at at all clear that there would be significant business flight, it is very clear that the resulting loss of revenue would wreak havoc on Missouri’s quality of life and, arguably, on overall prospects for increased economic growth.

SB26 obviously isn’t too smart from an economic perspective, but, not surprisingly, it may not be too smart politically either. The vaunted (by anti-tax GOPers, at least) Kansas experiment seems to be turning off voters there in large numbers:

Brownback has a negative -15 job approval rating, with 37% of Kansas voters approving and 52% disapproving of his performance as governor. 72% of moderates disapprove of his performance as well as 30% of Republicans and 66% of independents.

Brownback’s plan to phase out the state’s income tax is almost as unpopular as he is, with 48% of voters opposed and 37% supportive. 65% of moderates and 56% of independents oppose the plan. Even 34% of somewhat conservative voters and 28% of Republicans are opposed to the proposal to overhaul the income tax.

In Louisiana public disapproval has forced governor Bobby Jindal to jettison a similar, regressive tax proposal:

… Only 27 percent of Louisiana voters supported the plan in the latest SMOR poll versus a whopping 63 percent opposed. The idea didn’t even garner majority support among Republicans.

 

Also likely to be of interest to state GOPers who want to hang onto their legislative majority, Jindal’s overall popularity, like Brownback’s, is also tanking:

… . His approval rating plummeted to 38 percent in a poll last week by the non-partisan Southern Media Opinion & Research, down from 60 percent just a year ago. In an ominous sign for national Republicans, the immediate cause is a sweeping economic agenda with strong parallels to the House GOP’s latest budget.

It’s a funny fact that several of the governors who rode the Tea Party bandwagon to electoral success are alienating voters now that they are trying to enact the extreme right-wing economic policies espoused by the more cogent Tea-Partiers. Eight of the ten governors who are currently below sea level in terms of their approval ratings fall into this category. Perhaps there’s a lesson here for those among Missouri’s GOP lawmakers who have the requisite discernment to see it. Since they demonstrably don’t care about the public welfare – just consider their anti-Obamacare Medicaid expansion tantrum if you doubt this claim – perhaps self-interest might keep them from the type of folly embodied in bills like SB26.

 

House Bills in Jefferson City – February 19

19 Thursday Feb 2009

Posted by Michael Bersin in Uncategorized

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Bills, General Assembly, missouri, regressive taxation, right wingnuts

This particular discussion is actually only about one bill. But it’s a doozy:

HB 814 Establishes the Fair Tax Act of 2009, replacing the state income tax with a state sales tax

Sponsor: Emery, Edgar G. H. (126) Proposed Effective Date: 08/28/2009

CoSponsor: Nieves, Brian D. (98) ……….etal. LR Number: 0893L.01I

Last Action: 02/19/2009 – Read Second Time (H)

HB814

Next Hearing: Hearing not scheduled

House Calendar HOUSE BILLS FOR SECOND READING

Okay. Here’s a short lesson in tax policy. One of the reasons we have progressive taxes (like, for instance, an income tax) in which the upper margins of income (not the lower) are taxed at a higher rate is because those upper margins of income are made possible by and the result of the investment of infrastructure by our civilized society. Regressive taxes are bad because if you tax everyone at the same rate (like a sales tax on food and other consumable commodities like gasoline) the poor pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes because those consumable commodities are a higher percentage of their expenditures in the process of even freakin’ staying alive.

The first clue that this is about right wingnut insanity is the title. Any bill that has the words “Fair” and “Tax” in the title is really about cutting taxes for corporations and wealthy people and has nothing at all to do with fairness for anyone else. An extra added bonus would be the a mention of unearned income like inheritance somewhere in the bill. Let’s see:

FIRST REGULAR SESSION

HOUSE BILL NO. 814

95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES EMERY (Sponsor), NIEVES, SCHAAF, BIVINS, RUESTMAN, JONES (89), PARKINSON, SCHAD, BURLISON, KOENIG, WILSON (119), FISHER (125), FLANIGAN, DETHROW, DAVIS, SMITH (14), ALLEN, KRAUS, RUZICKA, STEVENSON, GUEST, ICET, KELLY, MUNZLINGER, McNARY, SCHOELLER, COOPER, WASSON, PARSON, WELLS, MEINERS AND BRUNS (Co-sponsors).

0893L.01I                                                                                                                                                  D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk

AN ACT

To amend chapter 144, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to the Fair Tax Act of 2009, with a referendum clause.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:

           Section A. Chapter 144, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be known as section 144.001, to read as follows:

           144.001. 1. This section shall be known and may be cited as the “Fair Tax Act of 2009”.

           2. For all taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2011, no tax shall be imposed upon any income derived from any source within this state, and all revenues lost as a result of the prohibition on the taxation of income under this section shall be replaced by the levy and imposition of a tax upon all use or consumption of taxable property or services in this state. The rate of such tax shall be five and eleven one-hundredths percent. The general assembly may enact one adjustment after the imposition of such tax if the revenue lost as a result of the prohibition on the taxation of income is greater than or less than the revenue received from the tax imposed in this section. Such adjustment shall be calculated to ensure that the amount of revenue received is equal to the amount of revenue lost under this section.

           3. The taxes that shall be replaced under this section are as follows:

           (1) Withholding taxes and individual and corporate income taxation;

           (2) Corporation franchise and bank franchise taxes;

           (3) All tax exemptions and deductions related to income and sales taxes;

           (4) The estate tax;

           (5) All other state taxes on any source of income.

           4. The department of revenue shall determine a method for providing a monthly sales tax rebate for each qualified family. The sales tax rebate shall be distributed to each qualified family on or before the first business day of the month for which the sales tax rebate is being provided. The amount of the sales tax rebate shall be determined annually and be equal to the product of the rate of sales tax established under this section and one-twelfth of the annual poverty guidelines updated periodically in the Federal Register by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the authority of 42 U.S.C. 9902(2), as amended.

           5. The department of revenue shall promulgate rules to implement the provisions of this section. Any rule or portion of a rule, as that term is defined in section 536.010, RSMo, that is created under the authority delegated in this section shall become effective only if it complies with and is subject to all of the provisions of chapter 536, RSMo, and, if applicable, section 536.028, RSMo. This section and chapter 536, RSMo, are nonseverable and if any of the powers vested with the general assembly under chapter 536, RSMo, to review, to delay the effective date, or to disapprove and annul a rule are subsequently held unconstitutional, then the grant of rulemaking authority and any rule proposed or adopted after August 28, 2009, shall be invalid and void.

           Section B. Section A of this act is hereby submitted to the qualified voters of this state for approval or rejection at an election which is hereby ordered and which shall be held and conducted on the Tuesday immediately following the first Monday in November, 2009, or at a special election to be called by the governor for that purpose, pursuant to the laws and constitutional provisions of this state applicable to general elections and the submission of referendum measures by initiative petition, and it shall become effective when approved by a majority of the votes cast thereon at such election and not otherwise.

           Section C. The official ballot title for section A of this act submitted under section B of this act shall read as follows:

           “Shall Missouri Statutes be amended to eliminate individual and corporate income tax and estate tax, and to enact a single, revenue-neutral sales tax of five and eleven one-hundredths percent on new purchases of goods and services, and to exempt property purchased for business or investment from the sales tax, and to provide each family with a monthly sales tax rebate?”.

[emphasis added]

Yep, that estate tax would be out. It’s the republican way – protect “earned income” from the tax collector.

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