LETTERS: HANCOCK II IS THE VOTERS' ANSWER TO SENATE BILL 380 TAX INCREASE

To the editor:

Come this November election the voters are going to get a chance to answer Senate Bill 380 where we get taxed and the governor gets to spend. Senate Bill 380 is the largest tax increase ever passed, and by only one voter, and our governor thinks he's got a mandate. On this coming November election Hancock II will be on the ballot as Amendment 7. Fellow taxpayers go for it. Amendment 7, if approved by the voters, will give Missouri voters the right to vote on their own tax increase, not the state legislature.

In truth, PACs and special-interest groups are the ones our legislatures listen to. It is to these rich special interest groups our legislatures owe most of their allegiance. Very little accountability is given to the voters, except maybe a month before the election. Then it is back to business all over again.

Two of these special-interest groups fighting for the failure of Hancock II is the NEA and the Missouri School Boards Association. There are probably lots of reasons why they are against Hancock II. But I will just state one. According to Senate Bill 380 nine-tenths of one percent of all school funds can now be distributed to private and professional associations and quasi-public associations such as the National Education Association and the Missouri School Boards Association for various uses. Fellow voters, this comes to about $3 million. BINGO!

This means that this staggering amount of your school tax money will not go to the school or classrooms at all, but will go into the coffers of the NEA and the school boards to spend as they see fit without giving the taxpayers any accountability at all. So when the school board; and the NEA come out for the defeat of Hancock II, you should know they can finance this or any other political agenda with your property tax dollars.

JAMES CRENSHAW

St. Louis