The day after many Americans paid their taxes, my colleagues and I in the Missouri House of Representatives gave final approval to legislation that would reduce the income tax burden for Missouri families and businesses for the first time in nearly a century. By a bipartisan vote of 104-48 we approved SBs 509 & 496 and sent the legislation to the governor to be signed into law. When fully implemented, the bill would reduce the tax burden on individuals and businesses by more than $600 million annually.
As you likely recall, we approved similar tax cut legislation last year that was eventually vetoed by the governor. At the time he used an endless litany of falsehoods in an attempt to depict a tax cut as a bad idea for Missouri citizens. Particularly appalling was his effort to scare our school districts into believing a tax cut would gut funding for education. While most Missourians saw through his deceptions, his relentless assault on the tax cut bill made it exceedingly difficult to override his veto of the bill. In the end, his veto stood and the House and Senate resolved to readdress the issue this year.
This week we made good on that promise as we sent yet another tax cut bill to the governor’s desk. This version of the bill would cut the top income tax rate from 6 percent to 5.5 percent over a period of years as long as our revenues continue to increase. It also would phase in a 25 percent tax exemption for Missouri business income in 5 percent increments. For low income Missourians who make $20,000 or less, the bill would increase the exemption for personal income taxes from $2,100 to $2,600. In addition, the bill would require that the brackets for individual income tax be adjusted annually for the percent increase in inflation.
To alleviate any concerns regarding the potential impact a tax cut could have on funding to education, the bill requires that revenues increase by at least $150 million each year before each phase of the tax cut is implemented. The legislation also delays the phase in of the tax cut until 2017, which gives the legislature time to further increase education funding so that our School Foundation Formula is at the level called for by law.
Despite these safeguards, the governor is back to his old tricks again as he has already indicated he is likely to veto the bill. Once again, he is making a blatantly false statement that allowing Missourians to keep more of their hard-earned wages will threaten the state’s ability to provide adequate levels of funding to education.
It is hard to believe the governor can make these statements with a straight face. This governor, who has withheld more money from education each year than any governor in memory, now wants to depict himself as the champion of education while vilifying the legislature. It is truly stunning when you consider it is this legislature that has come back each year and raised education funding to record levels only to see the governor intervene to deny some of these much-needed dollars to our schools.
As the governor tries to make these claims, I think it is important to look at the reality of the legislature’s commitment to education funding. In fact, let’s look at some of the highlights of the education budget from the appropriations bills we passed through the House just a few weeks ago.
House Education Funding Highlights:
K-12 Education
1. $278m increase for the Foundation Formula ($122m GR and $156m Surplus Revenue) which would make the K-12 education budget the largest in in state history.
2. $8.2m for Missouri Preschool Program in unaccredited and provisionally accredited districts.
3. $3.5m for reading programs in unaccredited and provisionally accredited districts.
4. $1m increase in Parents as Teachers.
5. $1m increase for Teach for America.
6. $25m increase to transportation funding.
7. $29m increase in First Steps Program
Higher Education
1. 3% increase to the core at every university and community college in the state.
2. $10m in equity funding for community colleges.
3. Full ride loan forgiveness for Bright Flight recipients who stay and work in Missouri.
4. $20m increase for Access Missouri.
5. $6.7m increase for A+ Scholarship Program.
6. $1.5m in UMSL equity funding
The numbers do not lie and the truth is that the House has continued to do all it can to invest in our system of education. Approving a tax cut does not undermine that goal. Instead it bolsters our ability to fund education because we know a reasoned, careful approach to lowering the tax burden for Missourians will provide a much-needed boost to our economy. Our goal is to place more money into the hands of industrious and innovative individuals and businesses who know best how to spend and invest these dollars so that they produce more jobs that will increase our tax base and spur economic growth.
The fact the governor does not see the wisdom in this plan is disappointing. Once again he hasmade it clear that he is a tax and spend bureaucrat who would prefer to grow the size of government rather than invest in the families and businesses of this state. While the members of the General Assembly simply want hard-working Missourians to keep more of their hard earned paychecks, the governor continues to use false rhetoric and politically motivated deceptions to paint the first cut to our income tax in nearly a century as an attack on public education.
The truth is that my colleagues and I in the legislature have taken education funding to record levels and will continue to do so even as we look for ways to allow Missourians to keep more of their wages. We know that a tax cut will spur the kind of job creation and economic growth that will result in increased revenues and even more funding for our public schools. If the governor wants to continue to work against this pro-growth plan that has worked in so many other states, the legislature will stand ready to defend Missouri taxpayers.
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