GOP LAWMAKERS QUESTION TAX HIKES WITHOUT VOTERS' OK

State Sen. Peter Kinder said Thursday he is opposed to Gov. Mel Carnahan's plan to increase taxes for education without submitting it to voters.

"For me, it is a matter of whether you trust the people or not," said Kinder.

Kinder said that in his campaign last year he criticized recent attempts to bypass the intent of the Hancock Amendment.

Said Kinder: "I will be opposed to any plan that does not provide for a vote of the people. I think we have to trust the people to make the right decision. The people have to buy into this and be involved.

"If this is an attempt to not go to a vote of the people, I will take a strong stand," said the Cape Girardeau Republican.

Rep. Mary Kasten, R-Cape Girardeau, said she too has reservations about bypassing the people. But, on the other hand, she said: "People are not going to vote for tax increases. I'm going to have to look at this a little more and talk to more people."

Carnahan, in a rare address to a joint session of the Missouri General Assembly Thursday, called for a $365 million state tax increase, $50 million in budget cuts to go toward education, and a $2.75 minimum tax levy for school districts as a method for dealing with a circuit judge's ruling that the present school foundation formula is inequitable.

Rep. David Schwab, R-Jackson, said he was unclear what kind of reforms Carnahan was calling for in his speech and he was concerned about bypassing the people with a tax increase and about the minimum levy hike.

"I have a problem with forcing school districts to raise their levies," said Schwab. "In Southwest Missouri and other places, where there are a lot of $1.25 levies, there will be resistance."

Schwab said, "It seemed like after his speech there was a lot of concern raised about passing this large of a tax increase without going to a vote of the people."

Schwab said, however, that winning voter approval of a tax hike is doubtful. "I think if people understood what it was going for, and how it would improve education with the new foundation formula, it might stand a possibility."

Rep. Dennis Ziegenhorn, D-Sikeston, said he felt Carnahan delivered a good speech and is trying to deal with the court decision.

Ziegenhorn said: "I have concern about passing this tax without a vote of the people, but I also feel if we don't do it, then we will be forced to live by a court ruling. We've had too much of that with the desegregation cases. We need to deal with this ourselves."

He said: "I don't think a vote of the people would pass right now unless they were really educated about where it is going to. But it won't be easy. We may have to be responsible legislators, and if we feel the money is going to be spent wisely, just do it."

Ziegenhorn, however, said he cannot support the plan because of his opposition to the $2.75 minimum levy. "I have a major problem with that minimum levy ... it could absolutely ruin this state," he said.

Kinder and Kasten agreed there are some good reforms proposed by Carnahan - reforms that could help sell the plan to voters.

"We got a very clear message from the voters in Cape on Tuesday, and I take that message seriously," said Kinder. "Everybody in public life can and should do so. One of the reasons it (the Cape Girardeau school bonds and tax-hike measures) lost is because of looming state and federal tax hikes that people just don't know if they are getting the triple whammy here - federal, state, and local.

"Maybe they just struck out at the one they can."

Both Kinder and Kasten said they fear increasing the corporate tax would discourage businesses from locating here and would ultimately be passed on to consumers.