One of the state’s casino owners is expressing concerns about the possibility of higher taxes being levied against those casinos. Missouri’s casinos pay a tax rate of approximately 33-percent and there has been talk of raising that rate. Bill Grace, Chief Executive Officer of the St. Jo Frontier Casino in St. Joseph and the Mark Twain Casino in La Grange, appeared before a joint Senate-House committee, saying if there are tax hikes, smaller casinos – like his – should be exempt. Grace says his St. Joseph operation is already facing competition from casinos on Indian reservations in Kansas, which pay no taxes. Grace says Missouri should not use casinos to try to solve the state’s budget problems. Grace wants to see a graduated system of taxation similar to income taxes in which those earning more pay more at a higher rate.
