LETTERS: SEN. HOWARD WRONG ABOUT TAX LOAD

To the editor:

In the Dec. 27 Southeast Missourian many Southeast Missouri legislators were quoted relative to their agenda in the 1999 legislative session. Many of these agendas are, depending upon your political leaning, troubling to the average Missouri taxpayer. However, the quote attributed to state Sen. Jerry Howard is not only troubling, but utterly false and misleading.

The Missourian article states: "Sen. Jerry Howard, D-Dexter, said Missouri can't cut taxes and continue to provide more services for the state's residents." Then Howard is quoted as responding: "Again, Missouri is one of the lowest tax states in the nation and yet one of the most efficiently run."With all due respect to the senator and his distinguished office, Howard has misled the public, and it seems that no one has attempted to correct this absurd statement. I am sure Howard knows that the taxpayers of Missouri are already paying state income taxes, state and local sales taxes, real property tax, personal property taxes and a myriad of hidden taxes such as the gasoline tax. And, of course, those of us who live in Cape Girardeau are privileged to pay even more sale taxes to fund local projectsOne only has to travel out of Missouri a little bit to find many states that have a much lower tax base than Missouri. For example, Florida has no state income tax nor a personal property tax.

As to Missouri being one of "the most efficiently run" states: In my opinion, Howard has confused efficiency (doing things right) with effectiveness (doing the right things). In other words, it does absolutely no good to efficiently do things you should not be doing in the first place. And, in my humble opinion, this state is far from being effective or efficient, especially as it relates to the tax structure.

I am not a rocket scientist, but I do know that returning taxes to taxpayers is not efficient, much less effective. This folly tells me there is something wrong with the state tax structure.

And, as a local anecdote, my local personal property tax increased from 1997 to 1998, even though the property remained the same. Fortunately, I was able to get some relief locally.

I think Daniel Webster summed up my feelings and those of any Missouri taxpayer. "Now is the time that men work quietly in the fields, and women weep softly in the kitchen. The legislature is in session, and no man`s property is safe."CHARLES W. POWERS

Cape Girardeau