LETTERS: CATO INSTITUTE GIVES TRUE, HONEST FACTS ABOUT HANCOCK II

To the editor:

Missouri voters need accurate and honest assessment of what the Hancock II amendment will do.

One of the nation's best and totally honest think tanks, CATO Institute, has done exhaustive research on it and comes forward with the true assessment of the agencies that are effected -- but more importantly, on what it will do for each Missouri taxpayer. Here is the CATO Institute's executive summary:

In November 1980 Missouri voters approved the Hancock amendment, a constitutional amendment intended to prevent the Missouri state budget from growing faster than the Missouri family budget. Since then the effectiveness of that amendment has been eroded as legislators have discovered ways to evade its restrictions by exempting certain revenues from the cap. Those evasions have cost Missourians $5 billion in higher taxes.

On Nov. 8 voters in Missouri can repair the Hancock amendment by enacting the Hancock II amendment. Because it more precisely defines "total state revenue," Hancock II would be more difficult for politicians to evade.

The opposition's scare tactics--claiming that Hancock II will require a $1 billion tax refund and necessitate massive spending cuts and service disruptions--are inaccurate and misleading. Any reduction in spending that may be necessary to comply with Hancock II would be only about one-eighth the size of the opposition's alarmist predictions.

You now have the true and honest facts for the first, and probably the ONLY time. So think of them and make up your mind on just how you will vote on Amendment 7 -- but be sure and vote, now that you know.

CHARLES E. STIVER

Cape Girardeau