Attached please find a media release from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), jointly with Missourians for Tax Justice, announcing the release today of their report called Topsy-Turvy: State Income Tax Deductions for Federal Income Taxes Turn Tax Fairness on its Head. I asked to distribute this release and report to you because we are about to pass a greatly underfunded state budget today. Budget Committee Ranking Democrat Rep. Sara Lampe just addressed the House to say that “there is no money” and that the Budget Committee has done the best that they can do, but that K-12 education, higher education, social services, health, and mental health are cut again this year. Yet Missouri could address its inadequate revenue problem if we had the political courage to do so.
According to ITEP, Missouri could receive at least $394 million more per year by simply ending the deductibility for federal income taxes paid on state income taxes, a feature only allowed in five other states. If the Missouri Tax Expenditures report is correct (also attached) – page 12, line C13, 2010 Column – the figure could be as much as $586 million. This is a very poorly designed tax feature as the media release will detail.
Isn’t it time we address Missouri’s inadequate revenue? We are four billion below the 1981 Hancock caps now, and we rank in the forty-somethings and even dead last on many measures of social well-being. I think it is long past time for us to act, and that is why I filed HB 930 this morning to end this deduction that makes our already unfair income tax system even more unfair. Almost 30 colleagues are co-sponsoring this bill with me, and I believe this, and the remarks that will be made in the budget process today, indicate growing support for raising money to address our state’s essential needs.
JMO
[Click below to view:
ITEP News Release
FIT Paid Deduction Analysis
MO Tax Expenditures Report]
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment