Meet Me at the Fair Tax: Bipartisan Support for a Missouri Fair Tax

Author: Anonymous

We’ve seen lawmakers try to mislead the public by giving deceiving names to legislation. Look out for anything called “Tax Reform.” But the Fair Tax Act of 2009 is an apt title for Missouri House Bill 814, sponsored by Rep. Ed Emery. Rep. Chris Kelly has a similar piece of legislation (simply called “Elimination of Income Tax”), House Bill 318. Both bills legislation call for getting rid of the state’s individual and corporate income tax, along with the estate tax, and replacing them with a tax on retail and service transactions.

Both bills require a change in the constitution, which voters would have to approve.

The bill also would do away with the dozens of exemptions on the existing state sales tax, and tax credits would be phased out. Families would get a rebate, based on number of members and their poverty level.

For a lot of reasons, the fair tax make sense. An income tax acts as a drag on the economy because employers don’t like moving to states with income taxes and workers resent paying them. The result is lower productivity and fewer jobs. Eliminating the corporate income tax will spur business expansion. And the way the rebates are structured means poor families won’t pay a disproportionate share of the sales tax. That should hearten potential opponents like Jeannette Oxford, D-St. Louis, and Roman Lee LeBlanc, D-Kansas City.

Both are concerned that the bills would heap more taxes on the poor. But that’s not the case.

The bills, which are in the House Tax Reform Committee, also shouldn’t be viewed as partisan. While Emery is a Republican from Lamar, Kelly is a Democrat from Columbia. Oxford and LeBlanc should join their party colleague and get behind a truly fair tax.