Texas shares struggles yet argues that income taxes = pipe dreams

“…ONE LOOK AT how our legislators use the tax dollars currently mandated, e.g., those tax dollars slated via lottery for public education, the gas tax to build and maintain roadways, and money supposed to go to various social services, one observes how our legislators and various special interests DIVERT those mandated DOLLARS TO OTHER VENUE…..

…it looks good, but the reality is that it would NOT cure our ills“

-from Somervell County Salon, “State Income Tax: penicillin or placebo?”

Apparently, our neighbors to the South share in our economic struggles, but they also represent a model for us to follow. Texas currently chooses not to implement a state income tax. However, it represents a testament to why we, as Missourians do not need this income tax we decide to enforce. The income tax in Missouri was yet another broad tool used by the legislature to funnel more money out of people’s pockets, but in the end, how has this extra tax helped us?? Texas understands that taxes are not always so eloquently proportioned into the correct categories and locations. Some of the very places that our income taxes are “going towards” are the same areas that are struggling immensely. Unlike Texas, we found out the hard way that income taxes are not the cure-all for state economies.

~ by reformer9 on January 19, 2009.