Analysis: Groups debate name for Missouri tax measure

JEFFERSON CITY -- Several groups are debating the wisdom of replacing Missouri's income tax with an expanded sales tax. Supporters see the proposal as a way to boost the state's economy; detractors fear an increased burden for the middle and lower classes and decreased state revenue. Besides disagreeing on the idea, they also cannot get together on what to call it.

Missouri Taxpayer Relief Act. Everything Tax. Almost Everything Tax. The abundance of labels has arisen this fall ahead of a possible campaign over a ballot measure that could appear before voters next year. State lawmakers, who have considered a similar tax change in recent years, contributed to the monikers by using names such as Fair Tax and Mega Sales Tax.

The most recent debate centers on several versions of a ballot measure that could have Missourians vote next year on a proposed constitutional amendment to scrap the state's income tax and replace it with a broader state sales tax. Supporters must gather enough signatures by May for the measure to appear on the 2012 ballot.

Under that measure, the new sales tax would cover more purchases and cap the tax rate at 7 percent for most transactions. The cumulative state and local sales tax rate would be limited to 10 percent. Certain purchase, such as child care, school tuition and rent would be exempted. Currently, Missouri has a 4.225 percent states tax. Of that, 3 percent is for general state revenue and 1.225 percent is for dedicated purposes such as conservation, education and state parks. Local governments also can levy a sales tax.

The group Let Voters Decide is sponsoring the ballot measure, and supporters contend the tax overhaul would help boost Missouri's economy and eliminate a form of double taxation by no longer levying a tax on the money people earn and then again on the purchases that they make. They call it the Missouri Taxpayer Relief Act.

"The name that we have provided for the act is the most appropriate. That's exactly what it is. It says what it is," said Anne Marie Moy, a spokeswoman for Let Voters Decide. She said opponents have not presented their own plan for improving Missouri's economy and that critics seem to be trying to confuse voters.

Not so fast, say opponents, who contend the tax changes would decrease the revenue collected by state government and hurt middle and lower class residents.

"There's no relief for taxpayers," said Scott Charton, a spokesman for the opposition group Missourians for Fair Taxation. "I don't think it pays relief to taxpayers because it dramatically raises the sales tax. It puts new, higher sales taxes on almost everything Missourians purchase every day."

Missourians for Fair Taxation prefers to call the proposal the Almost Everything Tax. Charton said the ballot measure would call for taxing most of the things that Missourians will buy while exempting other transactions for political reasons. Another, recently formed opposition group, called the Coalition for Missouri's Future, labels the measure as the Everything Tax.

So what difference does it make what the something is called?

Sometimes not too much. For example, in Romeo & Juliet, the couple discusses dropping their surnames with Juliet pointing out: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." However, unlike a rose, the name for a public policy or ballot measure can be reasonably important.

"We are not selling substantive policy. We are selling a marketing slogan," said George Connor, the head of the political science department at Missouri State University.

Politics is full of examples where attention was paid to the labeling or naming.

President Gerald Ford attempted to combat inflation by encouraging personal saving through the WIN campaign, or Whip Inflation Now. More recently, legislation passed immediately after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks got an easier-to-remember acronym USA Patriot Act. The full name for the measure is the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001. It authorized law enforcement and intelligence agencies to conduct court-ordered surveillance and seizure of records in counterterror operations.

So a rose might be pleasant no matter what you call it. But for advocates trying to encourage people to support growing more of them, identifying a catchy name could help make that happen.

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EDITOR'S NOTE -- Chris Blank has covered state government and politics for The Associated Press since 2005.