Brad Lager's Capitol Report for February 2nd, 2011

Holding the Line on Taxes

Within the last year, we have witnessed numerous states across the nation give up on the fundamental principle that government must live within its means. Instead of making the difficult decisions to balance their budgets, elected officials took more money out of the pockets of the hard working families in those states. In recent weeks before, members of the Illinois Legislature voted to dramatically increase both the personal and the corporate income taxes. Their governor quickly signed the measure into law, thereby leaving hardworking taxpayers with less money to balance their family budgets and business owners with fewer resources to hire employees and/or invest in the growth of their businesses.

Although many states are considering similar job killing tax increases, the reality is that this course of action will not fix the long term problems. In fact, this approach does nothing more than kick the can down the road as it fails to resolve fundamental spending problems while hindering the dollars available to grow their economy. What these tax and spend politicians fail to understand is the importance tax policy plays in a state’s economic plan and how ill-advised changes can cause dramatic effects to a state’s overall fiscal health and stability.

The Missouri State Senate has chosen a different approach to repairing our financial foundation. Rather than burdening taxpayers with greater financial strains, we are focusing our efforts on creating new opportunities for economic growth while simultaneously cutting the cost of state government. Now more than ever, it is time to formulate a comprehensive plan that empowers the private sector to fuel our economic growth. As our private sector succeeds and prospers, our state government will have the resources necessary to fund vital services.

The economic conditions in our nation and our state have changed, and the only way for us to enjoy long term prosperity is to have a government that is leaner and more efficient. Raising taxes to fix mistakes of the past has never worked, and I believe Missouri’s hard-working citizens deserve better. The decisions we make in the coming months will formulate our future, therefore, we must make the difficult decisions necessary to ensure our state government lives within its means without taking more from Missouri’s taxpayers.

As always, please feel free to call, email, or write with your ideas or concerns. The Capitol number is (573) 751-1415, my email is brad.lager@senate.mo.gov and my mailing address is Room 422, State Capitol Building, Jefferson City, MO 65101.