Win-win: Tax relief,access to health care

By Jason Crowell

I respectfully disagree with Robert Fulton's March 1 op-ed article on the tax-relief measure I and many of my colleagues in the Missouri House and Senate are advancing this session.

Shielding Social Security benefits from state income taxation creates a number of positive results for all Missourians.

First, taking Social Security benefits out of the tax equation restores the tax environment beneficiaries enjoyed up to 1984, when state and federal income tax calculations were directly linked, in the process doubly taxing the benefits. Seniors paid into the system throughout their working lives. It isn't fair to make them pay again for the rest of their lives.

Naturally, the move also allows beneficiaries to keep more money in their pockets and household budgets, making it that much easier to keep food on the table and a roof overhead. And seniors carefully evaluate a state's tax structure when deciding on whether to move to a friendlier state. Right now, Missouri is one of just 15 states that taxes Social Security benefits as income. I'd like the Show-Me State to join the 35 other states that don't cut Social Security benefits by taxing them.

Interestingly, studies are finding that retirees who first moved from the Midwest to Florida or the Gulf Coast and Sun Belt states are looking to come back to the nation's heartland. With all that Missouri has to offer, let's not sour the deal with this meddlesome tax.

Finally, I take strong exception to Fulton's views on Missouri's Medicaid program. Crucial checks and balances in the state-sponsored health-care system had been untended through much of the 1990s and into the early years of this decade. This lack of executive-branch oversight sent the program speeding toward unsustainability. By 2005, nearly one of every four taxpayer dollars in state revenue was being expended on Medicaid.

Over the last few years, my colleagues and I have worked to build a completely new model for state-funded health care that allows for the care of Missouri's most vulnerable, while better managing the program's operations so taxpayers are fairly treated as well. We must shift attention from reactive treatment to proactive prevention. Wellness awareness and promotion through fitness, nutrition and similar health education curriculum will reduce the number of people who become patients. Fewer patients means a smaller state-funded program and, more importantly, means there will be that many more healthy Missourians.

More healthy Missourians -- that's what I'm working for. That, and fewer Missourians subjected to double taxation.

Jason Crowell of Cape Girardeau represents the 27th District in the Missouri Senate.