Group seeking overhaul of state tax system

ST. LOUIS -- A coalition of 20 groups meeting in St. Louis this weekend is working to make changes to the Missouri tax system that it claims would make the system more equitable.

Tax Justice for a Healthy Missouri includes social service, education and religious groups. Participants gathered here Saturday for a workshop and dinner at the Ethical Society of St. Louis.

"We feel a need to educate people about how inequitable our state tax structure is and how it can be more fair," said Pat Martin, chairwoman of Missourians for Tax Justice, one of the groups. "Our income tax structure is so outdated, it's absurd."

The coalition favors a progressive individual income tax as well as changes in the corporate income tax. State legislators have considered a flat individual income tax and eliminating the corporate income tax.

Middle- and low-income families in Missouri pay a higher share of their incomes in state and local taxes than do the wealthiest Missourians, according to a study by Citizens for Tax Justice, a national tax research and advocacy organization based in Washington.

The poorest 20 percent of Missouri taxpayers -- those earning an average $8,900 a year -- pay 25 percent more of their income in state and local taxes than the wealthiest residents, the study found.

Missouri faces a budget shortfall estimated at nearly $1 billion going into the next school year. Social service and education budgets already have experienced deep cuts.

Dozens of states face budget shortfalls similar to Missouri's, said Matt Gardner, state tax policy director for Citizens for Tax Justice. The group has recommended that Missouri focus on the income tax as a way to increase revenue and equity. The group said Missouri should reject increases in sales taxes.

Greg Jung, president of the Missouri National Education Association, one of the groups represented by the coalition, said his organization supported a graduated income tax. He said he was not suggesting that the state do away with the property tax rate, a stable revenue source for schools. But he said his group was concerned about piecemeal fixes.

"We see the need to overhaul the tax system," Jung said.