MISSOURI'S BIGGEST-EVER TAX HIKE KEEPS GROWING LARGER

My friends who are constantly telling us we don't invest enough in education have some explaining to do.

The folks on the third floor of the capitol building in Jefferson City keep expanding what was already the largest tax increase in the Missouri history. Senate Bill 353, which passed the upper chamber by a vote of 24-10, was, at something like $462 million, the largest ever.

That isn't nearly enough for Rep. Christopher Kelly (D.-Columbia), who's pushing Speaker Bob Griffin's bill. Rep. Kelly's bill is House Committee Substitute (HCS) for Senate Bill (SB) 353. The HCS bill carries a walloping price tag of take your pick $750, $800, or possibly even $900 million. It depends on whose estimate you accept.

Governor John Ashcroft made Cape Girardeau the first stop of a statewide fly-around Friday afternoon to denounce the HCS, which he called "more of a tax hike bill than an education bill." The governor has performed the enormously useful service of bringing this discussion down to a level all of us can grasp: our own pocketbooks.

Let's look at what Rep. Kelly's HCS for SB 353 means to the average working couple with two wage earners, who together make approximately $45,000 (and assuming no dependents for the sake of keeping it simple). Here's what it means to that couple:

It means a tax increase of approximately $569, or an amazing bite of 46 percent more in one year. If they have two children, the couple would still see an increase of 37 percent.

For businesses, Missouri's tax burden will increase by a stunning 65 percent! All Missouri corporations, large and small, would pay higher taxes.

But business will pay, and that's where more of the tax burden should lie! goes the cry of the demagogue. But no business can survive if it fails to pass its costs including corporate taxes onto the consumer. And so the consumer pays in the form of higher prices for every good and service he purchases. He also pays an unseen cost in the jobs that were not created because our state's taxes rise so high that businessses don't locate new plants here, or because existing employers can no longer afford to expand.

This is good medicine for an economy struggling to rebound from recession?

According to the governor, the pending House proposal fails utterly to include the reforms he has urged the legislature to adopt, many of which have been adopted by other states to widespread acclaim. The bill has:

No graduation tests;

No school building report cards;

No requirement for more learning time (e.g., longer school year);

No assured public school choice for parents;

No meaningful alternative teacher certification;

No required guarantee on diplomas.

Moreover, the governor says that 25 percent of the tax can be diverted from education. If this is true, then Ashcroft's comment that the HCS is "more of a tax bill than an education bill" begins to take on the character of understatement.

A question: Could someone whose purpose is to hurt Missouri education have designed a bill that would more effectively accomplish that goal? Remember that anything the legislature produces will be before the voters for approval in November. Those who think the voters are likely to go for this package should be queried on precisely what they're smoking. They should also be asked where they stood on last year's so-called "Natural Streams Act", which looked like a winner until ordinary Missourians got a whiff of the totalitarian scent wafting around it. Result: A merciless, 3-1 thrashing for the cunningly named initiative, which a few weeks before was leading in every poll.

Want to convince Missourians to vote more money for education? Vote down HCS for SB 353, and give us a real reform bill with a price tag that bears some relation to reality.

Meanwhile, you might call your legislators and tell them what you think of what's cooking in the Missouri House of Representatives.