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Missouri Democrats question proposed tax cuts

Aug. 31—Gov. Mike Parson is bringing legislators back to Jefferson City to look at implementing sweeping tax cuts, but many Democrats are left with questions about who will see the benefits and at what cost to the state budget.

In the legislative session that concluded in May, right at the wire a bill passed that would give all taxpayers in Missouri who filed individually a $500 rebate, but Parson vetoed the bill in favor of sweeping tax cuts as he looks to drop the top income tax rate from 5.3% to 4.8% and increase the standard deduction by $2,000 for single filers and $4,000 for joint filers, along with other cuts.

State Rep. Peter Merideth, D-St. Louis, argues nearly one-third of Missourians do not pay taxes and are low-income so they would be left out of the cuts while the top 1% see the majority of the benefits.

"It costs our state a lot of money, meanwhile somebody that makes more average pay ... average working families in Missouri, they're going to see a couple of dollars a week at most," Merideth said.

Merideth's other concern is the state budget not being able to sustain the tax cuts. He would argue education and other areas could use the one-time dollars in a more useful way, as some of the dollars in the budget are from federal programs.

"We'd (Democrats) be open to things like sales tax relief. Sales tax is a more regressive tax that hits poor people hardest," Merideth said.

In a previous News-Press NOW article, outgoing State Sen. Dan Hegeman, R-Cosby, who served as budget chairman for the Senate in the last legislative session, said he believed the budget could handle the cuts.

"We've got all-time revenue in our general revenue budget ... and we will easily be able to handle what the governor's asking for in a reasonable fashion that doesn't go too far," Hegeman said.

State Sen. Lauren Arthur, D-Kansas City, said legislators approved the one-time tax rebates in the last session, and she agrees with Merideth regarding the cut being more favorable to the upper class.

"Senate Democrats do support tax relief for working families under the governor's proposal, though the wealthiest 1% stand to benefit the most," Arthur said. "Under his proposal, the bottom 20% would see tax relief in the form of about $11 a year and the top 1% would see $6,000 annually in tax relief."

Legislators will head back to Jefferson City on Sept. 6.

Clayton Anderson can be reached at clayton.anderson@newspressnow.com. Follow him on twitter: @NPNowAnderson.