04/09/18 - CALL TO ACTION! Keep up the pressure! Tell your Senator to vote NO! on tax bill SB 617!
- Write your State Senator here:
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/040918mm?source=website& - Don’t know your State Senator? Find out here:
http://www.senate.mo.gov/LegisLookup/Default.aspx
Tax cut bill SB 617 sponsored by Sen. Bill Eigel - Weldon Spring, could cost the state $500 to $800 million in lost revenues by eliminating the top tax rate and reducing both individual and corporate income tax rates to 5.25% with further reductions under certain revenue conditions. Middle and lower income Missourians already pay a higher percentage of their income than the wealthy. In a state that has already cut services to its most vulnerable, this would push Missouri further toward the disastrous results of the “Kansas experiment.”
Indivisible MO opposes SB 617 because:
We don’t want to end up like Kansas, where massive cuts to education, healthcare, and public services were made. People suffered. Compared to most other states, Missouri already invests less in services, including Kansas even after their tax cuts. If SB 617 passes, state revenues are projected to fall by hundreds of millions of dollars. The legislature has already cut critically needed services and benefits including prescription drug benefits to thousands of low income seniors and disabled. We cannot continue to cut needed services for all Missourians in order to give tax cuts to wealthy corporations and individuals.
Middle and lower income Missourians already carry an unfair burden of supporting our schools and essential services. SB 617 will increase that burden. Higher sales and local taxes will harm hard-working citizens. We have seen in recent years college fees and tuition increase by 25% due to decreased state funding. State funding for K-12 schools is still below 2010 levels when adjusted for inflation. Families already have to make difficult decisions. This bill will intensify that burden.
Most of the benefits would go to the wealthiest Missourians and corporations. This tax bill would give 91% of the benefits to the top 20% of wage earners in the state as well as corporations, which have already seen cuts in the form of giveaways like tax credits and loopholes.
Lawmakers can’t easily fix a budget crisis in Missouri. Missouri is already facing a budget shortfall of $240 million dollars. If SB 617 is passed, cutting taxes even more and we end up in a budget crisis, lawmakers can’t just raise taxes like they did in Kansas. By law Missouri voters must approve tax increases. As Senator Jason Holsman said recently in the Kansas City Star, "Kansas dug themselves into a hole, and they had the shovels to dig themselves out," Holsman said. "Missouri — if it digs a hole, we don't have any shovels. We just have a hole."
Sample Call Script:
“Hi, my name is __________, I'm a constituent from ___________, and I am calling to ask Senator ________to vote NO for SB 617 because _____________.”
References:
http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article207220354.html
http://www.mobudget.org/press-release-senate-tax-bills-provide-unfair-giveaways-to-wealthiest-leave-communities-reeling/https://states.aarp.org/missouri-legislative-session-begins/
http://www.stltoday.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-missouri-senate-makes-the-same-insane-tax-cut-mistake/article_7188d88b-cfb8-5a8c-a7ab-75152050661b.html
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