Opponents of the Republican priority tax cut proposals say they won’t generate the economic development that supporters proclaim.
Three proposals are soon to be headed to the Senate for debate. Proponents say cutting taxes will leave more money in the pockets of businesses that will hire more employees and create more tax income offsetting the tax cuts. They claim other states are growing after tax cuts. Critics say those comparisons are apples and oranges.
One of the critics is former state budget director Jim Moody, who says the big cuts in Kansas that are so attractive to Missouri Republicans are not leading to growth. He says Kansas’ tax receipts are expected to be $550 million less this year than they were two years ago. “They are not growing; they are contracting,” he tells a committee.
Another critic, Amy Blouin of the Missouri Budget Project, says the tax cuts will mean maximum savings of about $65 a year for about eighty percent of Missouri taxpayers and will mean only $8,000 for million-dollar businesses—hardly enough to pay for hiring one more employee, let alone several of them.
Democrats say they want low taxes, too. But they say Missourians also want good schools and good roads…and the state should not hurt its ability to meet those and other responsibilities by cutting revenues.
AUDIO: committee hearing 54:10