Brady Hays

Brady Hays is a 2023 graduate of the University of Missouri with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in History. He is currently attending the University of Missouri School of Law and is on pace to graduate with his JD in 2026. He has been working for the Missouri Times since early March 0f 2022.

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The most talked about and controversial piece of legislation is Parson’s proposal on income tax cuts that he announced at a press conference Monday afternoon. Parson vetoed HB 2090, a bill that aimed to give both married couples and single filers a tax rebate based on their income tax liability, on July 1.

Parson has come back with a much different proposal than that outlined in HB 2090. On Monday afternoon the Governor outlined his plan to drop the income tax rate from 5.3% to 4.8%. Parson’s plan would also eliminate the bottom tax bracket.

Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, D-Jackson County, added an amendment to HB 2090 that put an income cap on those who could receive the refund of $150,000 for singles and $300,000 for joint filers. Parson opposed the amendment prior to vetoing the bill, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reported.

“Senate Democrats approved targeted tax relief for working families … the Governor vetoed it,” Rizzo said in a statement. “We’ll carefully review his new proposal … if there is a tax cut it should benefit the middle-class working families in Missouri.”

Parson will meet with Democratic leadership in the House Tuesday to discuss his plan.

Stakeholders, specifically the AARP, previously criticized HB 2090 for being based on income tax liability, meaning Missouri’s lowest earners would see the least amount of help. Parson’s proposal may be able to fix that issue if he gets his way during special session.

“Our tax cut proposal means that every taxpaying Missourian, no matter their background, income, or job description, will see a reduction in their tax liability,” Parson said. “Every Missourian will earn their first $16,000 tax-free and married joint filers will earn their first $32,000 tax-free, resulting in significant savings for millions of Missourians.”

During his press conference, Parson put his proposal in perspective, citing that a senior making $20,000 a year would see a 100% decrease in income tax liability.

Still, the cut being income-tax-based would benefit the wealthy more than lower earners, as paying a lower percentage of income tax becomes more beneficial with the more income one makes. Detractors from the plan have pointed to former Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback’s tax cut disaster, criticizing Parson for using temporary federal relief funds to cover the loss in revenue from tax cuts.

“While Governor Parson focused on how certain struggling individuals might pay less in taxes, the proposals discussed today remain heavily weighted to benefit the wealthiest Missourians,” Amy Blouin, president of the Missouri Budget Project said in a press release shortly after Parson’s press conference.

“Relying on the current surplus to fund permanent tax changes isn’t fiscally sustainable, or responsible, and will ultimately require cuts to state services like we saw in Kansas a few years ago,” she added.

Parson believes his proposal is sustainable, he addressed concerns about reliance on federal money at his press conference.

“We’re not factoring in federal money with this,” Parson said. “This is general revenue in the state … we believe we can sustain this.”

The state may soon have an influx in revenue to cover the income tax cut, pending the legalization and taxation of the recreational use of marijuana. Legal Missouri 2022, the campaign which got marijuana legalization on the ballot through an initiative petition, estimates that legal cannabis would generate $40.8 million annually for the state.

Parson hopes to get the income tax bill done quickly, noting that he’s met with a lot of state legislators, the majority of which have supported Parson’s plan.

“I welcome Gov. Parson’s call for a special session — and I plan to file a bill on the first day to cut taxes for every family in Missouri,” Sen. Lincoln Hough. R-Springfield, said. “Allowing Missourians to make more income before they actually have to file taxes is continuing to remove burdensome government from the lives of everyday Missourians.”

Despite expected pushback from across the aisle and within his own party, Parson believes that he has put a good proposal on the table.

“The Senate rule has the chance to come together, on both sides of the aisle, for what’s good for all Missourians,” he said.

Parson also spoke about his plans for agriculture tax credit programs. Parson vetoed HB 1720 in July over concerns about the two-year extension period. His new proposal extends and creates nearly a dozen tax credit programs for agriculture providers and sets a minimum time of six years before the programs need to be renewed.

“Vetoing an ag bill is not something I took lightly or wanted to do,” Parson said. “But we cannot leave our farmers, ranchers and business owners with a bad deal.”

Featured Image Courtesy of Governor Mike Parson (Facebook)

Matthew McFarland

I’m a journalist hailing from the Detroit area. I love to tell investigative stories with a focus on everyday people.

You can contact me by email at matthew@missouritimes.com

The post Parson officially issues call for special session, lays out plan for income tax cut appeared first on The Missouri Times.

Taylor Burks, Kalena Bruce, state Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Cass County, and Mark Alford all took stances on several important issues throughout the debate.

The first issue the candidates debated centered around illegal immigration and inflation. Moderator Austin Petersen asked the candidates if they would support supplying jobs to immigrants if it meant inflation going down.

Brattin took a strong stance on spending, viewing inflation as a problem to fix with budgeting instead of immigration programs.

“It has nothing to do with the wave of immigrants coming here illegally and has everything to do with a reckless out-of-control government that is spending money — not budgeting,” Brattin said of the inflation problem. “I think that the move needs to be looking at our spending and our budgeting. We’re at $30 trillion in debt, I hardly think an influx and pouring in of illegal immigrants into our nation is the answer.”

Bruce acknowledged the support to the workforce that migrants and immigrants can provide, advocating for Congress to make it easier for those workers to achieve citizenship and to be able to work with less red tape.

“Congress, farmers, ranchers, manufacturers, we need a reliable workforce. We need the migrant workforce that is used to doing those jobs, because there are a lot of those jobs that Americans simply don’t want to do,” Bruce said. “We need folks that have been in our country for generations, they need a path to citizenship.”

“But at the end of the day, we have to close the borders… we have to cut back our spending. It’s a two-pronged question. But there’s not going to be one answer to fix the inflation issue. But I do believe immigration reform has to happen,” she added.

Burks chose to focus on inflation instead of immigration. Highlighting his strong belief in fiscal conservatism.

“I’m the only candidate on the stage who hasn’t taken federal handouts that kicked off the inflation that we’re seeing, when we saw trillions of dollars spent in PPP and government handouts over the last three years,” Burks said. “You need a congressman who’s gonna go to Washington, DC, and fight for fiscal conservatism.”

Bruce was quick to rebuttal Burks’ point about government handouts, believing that the assistance the federal government provided to small businesses during the pandemic was a necessity.

“I think that that program was essential. And making sure small businesses — specifically in rural America — could stay afloat when our government, specifically the Biden administration, shut us down,” she said.

Alford took a strong stance against illegal immigration, putting the completion of former President Donald Trump’s border wall as one of his main priorities.

“Ladies and gentlemen, there is a crisis at the border, and television does not portray it adequately,” Alford said. “We’ve got to finish President Trump’s wall. We must deport illegal aliens. We have enough jobs here in America for Americans to fill.”

Another issue that garnered some insightful debate came from a question by moderator Mike Mahoney. Mahoney asked the candidates how they would balance their concerns about Chinese-American tension with the fact that China supports a large part of Missouri’s economy.

Alford focused on building jobs domestically, allowing both Missouri and America to be less reliant on China.

“We’ve got to build more jobs here in Missouri and in the United States, where we are not importing things from China,” Alford said. “They’ve (China) slowly crept their way into each and every one of our homes, into your phones, and into your televisions with a grip that we have not seen before … there is a power in that economic grip, we have to break that grip.”

Brattin support a Trump-esque “strong arm” approach to Chinese-American relations.

“We have to realize, yes, we depend on them, but they also depend on us so much more heavily. And having that strong arm approach, I think just like Trump did really put them (China) back on their heels,” Brattin said. “We keep selling them our debt, we keep doing these things that put us at a competitive disadvantage. We also have to look at the human rights that they continually violate, I mean, they literally have slave labor over in China.”

Bruce took her focus to manufacturing and tax policy.

“What we have to do is bring more manufacturing right here in Missouri, we are set up perfectly here in Missouri, we have the infrastructure to support it, we have the waterways, we have the rail, and we are set up to have some of the strongest manufacturing right here at home in Missouri,” Bruce said.

“We need to be using and bringing more manufacturing here at home. And doing so by strong fiscal policy … We have to be able to provide businesses competitive playing field so that they will quit exporting things to China,” she added.

Burks believes that China is America’s most dangerous foreign threat, and wants to bring the focus back to the states.

“This is a serious foreign policy issue because the most serious threat that this country faces overseas is China. The United States military has conflict with China in our strategic defense policy in the next five years,” Burks said.

“When we’re looking at conflict, whether its economic or actual military conflict with China, our concern is going to be — what is our manufacturing or production capacity? How are we going to compete with a country where we’ve built their infrastructure? We need to focus on this country and being prepared for when that conflict occurs with China,” he added.

The last question the candidates debated on came from moderator Scott Faughn. Faughn asked the candidates what they would do to give Missourians relief from high gas prices.

All four candidates put a focus on domestic energy independence.

Brattin focused on pushing the Biden administration, believing that a “red wave” will take over Congress come November.

“I think we’ve got to push on him to enact energy independence, to start that the drawback of what’s occurred to making gas go up to five bucks a gallon. I think that’s what we have to show that we’re willing to take it on and fight that fight,” Brattin said. “You’ve got to work with people to ensure you have the best and most fiscally sound America-centric policy — like pipelines and drill here drill now that sort of thing.”

Bruce focused on opening up the Keystone XL pipeline, which President Biden closed down at the beginning of his administration. She also characteristically focused on farmers and ranchers.

“We’ve got to be energy independent, this failed policy that we’re having shoved down our throats right now is obviously not working,” Bruce said. “We’re going to need all types of energy to continue on and be a strong America with the prices that Americans can afford.”

“Farmers and ranchers can be a big part of that, we have lots of research and lots of development in the biofuel space. And that’s going to be an important part of making sure we have clean affordable energy for the American people,” she added.

Both Burks and Alford put their focus on the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) and how the EPA’s regulation can harm domestic energy independence.

Burks zeroed in on administration inconsistencies and how they harm America’s oil production.

“Our energy companies are not going to invest in domestic production for this country. So long as every two years with a new Congress, or every four years with a new president, they’re threatened with shutdowns for our domestic production,” Burks said.

“We have to be an all of the above energy policy. And every time we flip the switch with a new Congress or new administration and start back at zero, it makes the United States weaker and drives up our prices at the pump.”

Alford aimed his crosshairs squarely at the Biden administration with his response.

“The F-150 is a model of a truck and it shouldn’t be what it costs to fill it up,” Alford said. “This is not the fault of President Trump. It’s not the fault of anyone but President Biden. I feel President Biden — the first thing he did was to demonize fossil fuels and continue his march towards trying to get in line with the crazy wacky climate change people.”

“He put the onus on and really targeted the fossil fuel industry, but he put the crosshairs on the backs of families like yours and farmers who are struggling.”

The debate, which was hosted by the Missouri Times, will be aired Sunday at 5 p.m. on KMOS, mid-Missouri’s PBS station. Kansas City’s PBS station will air the debate on Sunday at 11:30 a.m.

The full debate can be viewed here.

Featured Image: From left to right, Mark Alford, state Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Cass County, Kalena Bruce and Taylor Burks attend a debate hosted by the Missouri Times in Warrensburg, Mo. on July 15. (Brady Hays/The Missouri Times)

Matthew McFarland

I’m a journalist hailing from the Detroit area. I love to tell investigative stories with a focus on everyday people.

You can contact me by email at matthew@missouritimes.com

The post CD 4 candidates debate on immigration, Chinese relations and energy independence appeared first on The Missouri Times.

This budget session, however, you can take pride in the fact that your Missouri Legislature. Both Republicans and Democrats came together on something necessary and good and impactful.

They voted to help students breathe.

The current state budget draft has a line item, passed by the House and Senate, that would give public schools the medication, equipment, and education to rescue children when they have an asthma attack while in school. Some schools already have these items, which are purchased out of already stressed budgets or through the generosity of donors to nonprofit programs. Most do not. All that remains is for Gov. Mike Parson to keep this in the budget, and then sign it.

In 2012, Missouri became the first state in the union to allow albuterol to be stocked in schools. Another 15 states now do too. Parson can make a real difference and keep Missouri on the leading edge of student health with a relatively small amount of money.  Here are three reasons why I think he will:

1. It will work

The plan is modeled after the RESCUE program already run in some Missouri schools. In the 11 years of its operation, when a child has an asthma event, in a school that participates in RESCUE, they are able to go back to class nearly 90 percent of the time. Conversely, nurses tell us that without the resources kids stay in school just 25 percent of the time.

2. It actually costs nothing

Asthma is a leading cause of school absences in Missouri every year. Over 155,000 children living in Missouri are living with asthma. When a child is supported by Medicaid, then much of the cost of an ambulance ride and an emergency room visit becomes the responsibility of the state and its taxpayers. If these hospital visits are reduced by even 25 percent, then it could be a wash. If they are reduced by a predicted 70 percent, then the state will actually save money well above the budget expense.

3. It keeps kids where they belong

The school shutdown that COVID caused reminds us that kids really need to be in school. Kids and communities benefit from the educational and social stimulation that only a school can provide. Attending school allows all kids to seek their full potential in academics, arts, sports, and more. Also, when children remain in class after an asthma event it means that their caregivers will not have to come pick them up for treatment. With this program in place, more kids will be in the classroom and more Moms and Dads can keep working.

I have not yet mentioned that this will help our hard-working school nurses save lives, but that does not make it any less true. Every day an average of 11 Americans die from an asthma attack. Most of these deaths are avoidable with proper knowledge and resources.

Missouri already allows albuterol to be stocked. Now we can continue the momentum and keep kids healthy and in school with this initiative. Gov. Parson has the power to do so by approving HB 3002 Sec 2.333, a tiny fraction of the budget, all while saving taxpayer dollars in the process.

Chris Martinez

Chris Martinez is a husband and father of three and the executive director of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America – Missouri. He holds a master's in international business from Saint Louis University and a Nonprofit Leadership Certification from Georgetown University.

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This increase is critically needed — considering Missouri is ranked No. 45 in the nation for transit investment and had allocated only $1.7 million each of the last four consecutive years — but it will go so much further when considering federal matches.

This funding will help provide the non-federal or local match required to enable transit providers to draw down some of the $91 billion in federal funds earmarked for transit as part of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Federal funding support requires a 50:50 match for transit operations and an 80:20 match for capital programming. Missouri transit providers have been working diligently to identify local funding sources through sales tax, private contracts, and more, but the most significant missing link up to this point had been the lack of state funding. This would be the case no more.

Missouri could finally be back on track. Funding would help expand transit accessibility and continue allowing transit providers to deliver millions of rides annually so Missourians can gain access to jobs, health care needs, education, goods, and services.

Thank you to those who stood in support of transit. This will be a very big win if Gov. Mike Parson signs it into law.

Kimberly Cella

Kimberly Cella is the executive director of Citizens for Modern Transit and the Missouri Public Transit Association.

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This funding will initiate the Innovative Technology Pilot Project with a new fluoridation technology making community water fluoridation simpler, accessible, and attainable for distressed areas while repairing and replacing aging fluoridation equipment in communities currently providing fluoridated water.

Currently, 36 Missouri counties are without fluoridated water systems. All are rural, and 16 are in high-need areas experiencing a dentist shortage. Statewide, more than 1,100 water utilities, serving nearly 1.5 million people, don’t put fluoride in the water. Yet, research shows fluoridation is the single most effective public health measure to prevent tooth decay, and one of the most equitable means for delivering fluoride to all community members.

In 2021, Delta Dental of Missouri contributed nearly $150,000 to support water fluoridation, awarding grants to 15 public water systems to help protect the oral health of 120,000+ Missourians. We committed $225,000 for grants for community water fluoridation in 2022, which will match federal funding. This combined funding makes a difference, but more is needed.

The state’s funding for community water fluoridation is imperative for the dental health of Missourians.

Rob Goren

Rob Goren is the president and CEO of Delta Dental of Missouri.

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This amendment grants $10 million allocated to state agencies’ essential workers and another $10 million to small businesses. Both agencies and businesses will be able to submit proposals to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) for up to $250,000 each for expenses and equipment related to childcare services.

This pilot program is funded through money awarded by the American Rescue Plan Act.

“Childcare is a significant cost that only rose during the pandemic, and it imposes a major financial barrier for families to stay active in the workforce,” Fogle said. “By devoting funds to this program, we tell parents who work in state agencies or want to start new businesses that we support them.”

Fogle also said this amendment can largely help state workers struggling with low staffing levels in the public sector, in hopes of reducing employee turnover. Throughout the budget process, many members heard from a multitude of state agencies that employee turnover is at unsustainable levels because they are overworked and feel underappreciated.

“I’m proud to secure this funding for Missouri families by working across the aisle during a historic budget year,” Fogle said. “This appropriation will improve livelihoods across the entire state.”

The House passed the budget Thursday before adjourning for the week. It now heads to the Senate.

Brady Hays

Brady Hays is a 2023 graduate of the University of Missouri with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in History. He is currently attending the University of Missouri School of Law and is on pace to graduate with his JD in 2026. He has been working for the Missouri Times since early March 0f 2022.

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Net general revenue collections for 2022 fiscal year-to-date increased 2.2 percent compared to February 2021, from $7.20 billion last year to $7.36 billion this year.

GROSS COLLECTIONS BY TAX TYPE

Individual income tax collections

• Decreased 0.8 percent for the year, from $5.44 billion last year to $5.39 billion this year.
• Increased 15.7 percent for the month.

Sales and use tax collections

• Increased 13.6 percent for the year, from $1.60 billion last year to $1.82 billion this year.
• Increased 0.7 percent for the month.

Corporate income and corporate franchise tax collections

• Increased 9.7 percent for the year, from $427.8 million last year to $469.1 million this year.
• Increased 33.6 percent for the month.

All other collections

• Decreased 0.1 percent for the year, from $300.4 million last year to $300.2 million this year.
• Increased 25.3 percent for the month.

Refunds

• Increased 9.4 percent for the year, from $567.4 million last year to $620.8 million this year.
• Increased 54.1 percent for the month.

Due to the COVID pandemic, the 2020 income tax filing deadlines in April and June were moved to July 15, 2020.  Therefore, the comparison of FY21 to FY22 will be negatively impacted throughout FY22.

The figures included in the monthly general revenue report represent a snapshot in time and can vary widely based on a multitude of factors.

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MOSERS, the Missouri State Employees’ Retirement System, holds about $13 million in Russian securities within funds worth more than $1 billion as part of its Global Emerging Markets allocation, according to the Treasurer’s Office. 

“Vladimir Putin is a madman, and it’s time for the world to cut him off. In Missouri, that starts with MOSERS,” Fitzpatrick, a Republican, said. “When he is isolated and alone, Ukrainians and Russians will have their countries back. Missouri stands with the Ukrainian people.” 

“I’m calling on all other Missouri pension plans to follow suit in ensuring no public funds are used to help prop up the Russian economy as long as these atrocities continue,” Fitzpatrick continued. 

The move comes as the U.S. and several other counties have imposed sanctions on Russia as it has invaded Ukraine. Oil companies Shell and BP also recently announced divestment plans from Russian groups. 

Fitzpatrick sent his letter to MOSER executive director Ronda Stegmann Monday. 

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Doug Richey

Rep. Doug Richey is a Republican who represents HD 38 in Clay County. He is the chairman of the Joint Committee on Education.

The post Opinion: Compromise and obstruction: A case for charter funding equity appeared first on The Missouri Times.