05/14/18 - Missouri Mondays - Tell your legislators to say NO! to SB 617 unfair tax cuts and YES! pass MONA now to end discrimination!

CALL TO ACTION!

Tell your legislators to say NO! to SB 617 unfair tax cuts and YES! pass MONA now to end discrimination!


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. 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.”  

The Missouri Non-discrimination Act or MONA would add sexual orientation and gender identity to protected categories of the Missouri Human Rights Act. Currently the law prohibits discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodations based on race, sex, color, religion, ancestry, disability, age (in employment), familial status (in housing) and national origin--but does not protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender people.


Indivisible MO opposes SB 617 and supports MONA because:


  • We don’t want to end up like Kansas, where corporate tax cuts led to massive harmful cuts to education, healthcare, and public services.  If SB 617 passes, Missouri’s revenues are projected to fall by hundreds of millions of dollars.  Our legislature has already cut critically needed services and benefits including prescription drug benefits to thousands of low income seniors and disabled. Compared to most other states, Missouri already invests less in services, including Kansas even after their tax cuts. We cannot continue to cut vital services for all Missourians in order to give tax cuts to wealthy corporations and individuals without catastrophic consequences.
  • Lawmakers can’t easily fix a budget crisis in Missouri.  Our state is already facing a budget shortfall of $240 million dollars.  If SB 617 additional tax cuts are passed and we end up in a budget crisis, lawmakers can’t just reverse course and raise taxes like they did in Kansas.  By law Missouri voters must approve tax increases. Risking a financial crisis is dangerous and completely irresponsible!
  • MONA has been filed every year for twenty years and that is long enough!   There are currently no explicit, comprehensive statewide non-discrimination protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender people in Missouri.  Missouri must support the rights of ALL its citizens NOW!
  • Without MONA protections in Missouri, an individual can be fired from a job, denied housing, or denied service in a business based on sexual orientation or gender identity.  This is unacceptable!  We must pass MONA now!
  • Over 90% of Fortune 500 companies prohibit this kind of discrimination. The idea that non-discrimination would hurt Missouri businesses is wrong. Successful Fortune 500 companies recognize that non-discrimination is not only the right thing to do, it is also profitable!

Sample Call Script:

“Hi, my name is __________, I'm a constituent from ___________, and I am calling to ask Senator/Representative________to vote NO to unfair tax cuts in SB 617 and YES to MONA and ending discrimination now 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/

https://auditor.mo.gov/content/auditor-galloway-warns-missouri-budget-balanced-backs-taxpayers-financial-instability-could

http://www.stltoday.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-missouri-senate-makes-the-same-insane-tax-cut-mistake/article_7188d88b-cfb8-5a8c-a7ab-75152050661b.html

https://promoonline.org/news/the-missouri-nondiscrimination-act-is-introduced-in-the-house-senate-for-the-19th-year-in-a-row/

https://www.freedomforallamericans.org/missouri-legislation-anti-lgbtq/

http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article145831509.html

https://labor.mo.gov/discrimination

http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article145831509.html#storylink=cpy

https://promoonline.org/news/moloveformona/


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