Please take a gander at the Missouri Record Blog for their thorough coverage of the earnings tax debate. A teaser:
They were unable and–even resentful–of having to answer questions and yet nevertheless wanted to keep the people of Kansas City from registering their own votes on the matter.
Well, we may see a lot of that in the early efforts to give voters a say in their local taxes. See, the initial question isn’t whether you like the earnings tax or not. The first question being posed to voters by way of a ballot initiative is: do you think people in KC and St. Louis should be allowed a vote to either affirm or sunset the earnings tax.
Mind you, one of the choices voters will have if this language is placed on the ballot is to affirm that they do, indeed, want to keep the earnings tax. So when people stand against the ballot initiative, they are not really standing up in favor of keeping this derogatory tax. They are actually standing against you having the right to vote for something that affects your business, your job, your income and your city.
At Let Voters Decide, you can read the ballot language and sign up to get involved in the campaign.
Even if you think the earning tax is necessary for St. Louis and Kansas City, please consider that letting voters have a say in their taxes, and creating a mechanism whereby we can adjust the way we levy taxes is an important part of the way our democracy works. Having a vote about our taxation has particular significance to the way our framers and founders molded this government, so I think it is important to give people avenues to challenge and check their leadership.
