LOW TAX BITE IS NO EXCUSE TO LOOK FOR WAYS TO SPEND MORE

Greetings: The Internal Revenue Service requests the pleasure of your taxes on everything you earned in 1996.

Although not worded exactly this way, the tax forms arriving in the mail send a clear message that it is time to start thinking about tax filings and deadlines.

At the same time comes word that Missourians have one of the lowest overall tax bites when it comes to paying city, county and state taxes. Congressional Quarterly did a study of these local taxes and found that Show Me taxpayers kick in about $3,700 for each man, woman and child in the state. That is next to last in a ranking of local taxes collected in each of the 50 states.

One segment of those local taxes is the state income tax. According to the study of the most recent data available, Missourians rank 27th in the bill they pay for state income taxes.

The study also shows how Missouri fares in federal funding that finds its way back to the state. City, county and state programs in Missouri receive some $3.5 billion a year from all federal source, most of it going to Jefferson City. These payments amount to $676 for every state resident, placing Missouri 38th in the nations for federal dollars.

So much for the statistics.

Figures, even those that show the tax burden of a state or its taxpayers, are all relative. What may appear to be low in comparison to other states may, indeed, be quite a lug for any given wage earner or corporation.

Missouri and its many political subdivisions have long prided themselves on offering quality services at a low cost. This can be attributed to the generally frugal nature of Midwesterners, but there is something to be said for local government's ability to squeeze the most from every tax dollar.

As with any statistics, however, some are likely to be used for the wrong purposes. Missourians are paying hundreds of millions of dollars too much in taxes in the name of education, for example, because of the notion that, statistically, Missouri wasn't spending enough on schools before the Outstanding Schools Act came along.

Any time a low tax burden is cited as the need for more taxes -- and the accompanying increase in government spending -- is a good time for taxpayers to become extremely alert.