A late push is materializing in the legislature to get a Fair Tax bill on next year’s ballot. But might be little more than a show.
Smithville Senator LuAnn Ridgeway has rewritten her proposal to replace the state income tax with a consumption tax—an expanded sales tax. She says she’ll get a Seante committe hearing next week. That’s only three weeks before the end of the session and the senate floor leader doubts the bill will be debated this year.
Her proposal puts a seven percent cap on the state sales tax, which she claims is still enough to provide state government with the amount of money it gets now.
But former state budget director Jim Moody, now an private financial analyst, says the state sales tax would have to be about 10 percent, not 7, to generate the same revenue the state now gets. He thinks the combined state and local sales taxes would reach 14-15 percent and likely would have to include sales taxes on rent and halthcare, two unpopular issues to tax.
Several proposed petitions are being prepared for circulation in case the legisalture does not act.