STATE GOVERNMENT IS $1.8 BILLION SMALLER, THANKS TO MEL HANCOCK'S FAMOUS AMENDMENT

For the first time since fiscal year 1995, the nearly 20-year-old constitutional amendment that requires Missouri government to mail refunds to income-taxpayers isn't expected to kick in at the end of fiscal 2000, which ends June 30.

Missouri's Hancock Amendment is named for its sponsor, former U.S. Rep. Mel Hancock, a Springfield Republican. Voters adopted it Nov. 4, 1980. Ever since then, whenever the state's revenue exceeded growth in personal income, the state owes you a refund.

It is worth noting that before the current chief executive, no governor had exceeded the Hancock limit. Now, Missourians have received tax refunds for the years 1995 through 1999 totaling $873.9 million. In fiscal 1999, the state exceeded the limit by $98.3 million. This amount, the smallest of any refund year, will be refunded this fall. State budget officials are estimating that for the current fiscal year, the state will fall $291 million below the refund trigger. This is owing, in significant part, to a series of small tax cuts lawmakers have passed during these years which, taken together, add up to $800 million.

These tax cuts were prompted by the Hancock Amendment and a desire by legislators to minimize the size of the refunds. We can therefore thank Mel Hancock for state government's being approximately $1.8 billion smaller than it would otherwise be if he had never set out to pass the famous amendment that bears his name. All Missourians should thank Hancock for having that money in their pockets.