Recently, the Missouri House Republicans threw the entire state budget into disarray when they decided that the best use of over 1 billion in stimulus funds was to give the entire state a .5% income tax rebate. Speaking on Fox News, Rep Ron Richard said
that though he had heard from Washington that it would not be legal to use stimulus money for a tax break, the opinion did not stop him from planning to move forward.
"We've got a message from the OMB, the vice president, they don't like it," Richard said in the TV interview, according to the Kansas City Star. "They say it's illegal and we're going anyway.
More behind the cut
This despite the fact, that St. Louis is facing some of the worst public transit cuts in the nation. This despite the fact that St. Louis city remains heavily disinvested from, quite literally crumbling, that St. Louis has some of the worst outcomes for children in the US, and both Kansas City and St. Louis are in the top 15 most segregated metropolitan areas in the country. Included in the Republican-led 180, are the slashing of even the modest 20 million allocated for public transit in St. Louis just a week ago (far less than the current budget deficit, but enough to restore some needed services and Call-A-Ride programs for elderly and disabled citizens).
Let's be clear, this is a form of class warfare. Many of the poorest families stand little to gain from this income tax reduction, while the richest Missourians stand to gain quite a bit. Cloaked in libertarian rhetoric is a shoddy understanding of economics. Think about it - you get a $500 check in the mail (the average amount that even its proponents say we will get, though the "details have yet to be worked out") Maybe you pay off a bill or two, maybe you just put it in your savings account, but you don't make any significant investment with it.
The economic multiplier is much smaller handing out approximately $10 per week per person than it would spending that money on targeted programs with significant positive externalities -- things like public schooling, green jobs programs, public transit, etc. I'm not likely to have the time or energy to organize 1000 of my neighbors to fund a community recreation center, or install a new bus line.
This is blatant political pandering of the worst sort. Quite literally it amounts to an attempt to buy votes. Whether you see the stimulus plan as wise or not, it's clear that this is a return to trickle-down economic theories (How well did those Bush tax cuts work?) and amounts to an attempt to take much needed funds out of commission at the same time that the state needs spending on infrastructure projects with longterm vision.
Clare is on it, stating that:
"I know this: Nobody in Congress -- nobody -- thought that we were going to do 40 percent of the bill in tax cuts and 60 percent of the bill in job creation, that the states were then going to take the job creation money and say, 'Well, we're going to decide that we know better and we're going to do 100 percent in tax cuts.'"
But YOU need to be on it as well. Can you contact Rep. Ron Richard and Alan Icet and let them know that you support investing in Missouri's future, not giving out a one time tax cut, that you support funding public transit in St. Louis and Missouri, that you support expanding social services and childhood care programs, and that you do not support their plan.
Alan Icet - Chairman of the Budget Committee - Allen.Icet@house.mo.gov
Ron Richard - House Speaker - Ronald.Richard@house.mo.gov