Paul Curtman
  • Blog
    • On Freedom
    • Ten Principles of a Free Society

The "China Hub" Bill, Tax Credits, and Economic Development

10/6/2011

3 Comments

 
Picture
The house passed the Economic Development Bill today by a vote of 98 to 48. 

I voted for several amendments to the Economic development bill including amendments to:

·      Cut the Corporate Tax ¾ of a percentage (the only part of the bill that provides a decent help to more businesses than just the ones picked for targeted tax credits)

·      A sales tax holiday for products that are “Made in the USA” (Finally a step in the right direction to ultimately encourage production of goods in America and also good for business in our state)

·      No sunsets on Tax Credits for Food Pantries and Pregnancy Care Resource Centers. (These tax credits operates more like a tax deduction and they are nontransferable so no one stands to profit at the expense of the taxpayer Also, these are for benevolent organizations, not businesses so no one is forced into a competitive disadvantage)

After other amendments were added, I had doubts about a vote I cast to add sunsets to the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, I liked a plan that I heard later by Rep Ryan Silvey.  Rep Silvey had offered up an amendment to bring every tax credit under review every four years instead of sunsets. Due to the nature of the various types of tax credit programs (some are more characteristic of tax deductions etc…) I think it would be a good idea to bring ALL of them up for review on a routine basis, at this time in our state, we do not have the luxury of perpetual tax credit programs that continue on without any oversight.

Although I voted in favor of several amendments, I ultimately voted NO on the entire bill for two main reasons: 

(1) The bill was extremely bloated and covered an entire host of different issues and tax credit programs and we didn’t even debate the content of the proposed 200 page + bill on the house floor, we just debated different amendments.  The 200 pages of this bill were given to us a day or so before we arrived in Jefferson City and many of us felt we didn’t have adequate time to study the new version of the bill. 

(2) I believe the Economic Philosophy of the state is headed in the wrong direction; instead of using sound principles of economics to spur economic growth, we are debating how best to control the economy in an attempt to force it into prosperity instead of relying on consumers and producers to initiate the growth. When the government issues policies to choose who can and who cannot participate in the market  we only put more economic control in the hands of bureaucrats and politicians who feel they can improve the economy by writing new laws.  The government cannot predict supply and demand so they should stop trying to give economic advantages to one industry over another. The more we do this, the deeper of a hole we will have to dig ourselves out of when we finally decide to break a sweat on the tax reform that we desperately need to give businesses more economic freedom to succeed and prosper.

I am glad that there were beneficial items in this bill but  unfortunately the cost of this bill seems to have outweighed the overall benefit, especially if we continue with flawed economic policy geared more and more toward central planning.

Freedom, liberty and property rights for consumers, producers and laborers will make us the most prosperous in the end; it worked the first 200+ years in America and I believe that if we try it again we will see some great innovation come out of our state!



3 Comments
    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Podcast


    Categories

    All
    2012 Budget
    2012 Session
    2nd Amendment
    Abortion
    Aerotropolis
    Agriculture
    Akin
    American Laws For American Courts
    Budget
    Capitol Report
    Concealed Carry
    Congressional Districts
    Constitution
    Courts
    Credit Downgrade
    Declaration Of Independence
    Dulin Creek Road
    Economic Development
    Economic Development Special Session
    Economic Freedom
    Economy
    Education
    Emergency Services
    Emerson
    Family
    Family Business Growth Act
    Foreign Aid
    Foreign Law
    Foreign Policy
    Freedom
    Gasden Flag
    Guns
    Hate Crimes
    Hb 170
    Hb 523
    Hb 685
    Hb 708
    Hb 845
    Healthcare
    Hwy 30
    Inflation
    Insane
    Interim
    Israel
    Jobs
    Joplin
    Letter To The Editor
    Libertarian
    Liberty
    Libyan Revolution
    Livestock
    Luetkemeyer
    Marriage
    Memorial Day
    Methamphetamine
    Military
    Missouri Says Audit The Fed
    Mo House
    Money Bomb
    My Legislation
    Natural Law
    Obama
    Obamacare
    Our Lady Queen Of Peace
    Paul Curtman
    Personal Freedom
    Photos
    Principles
    Privacy
    Property Rights
    Public Service
    Redistricting
    Red Tape
    Rights
    Roads
    Ronald Reagan
    Ron Paul
    Ryan Silvey
    Self Ownership
    Sharia
    Small Business
    Smoking Ban
    Sound Off Broadcast
    Speech
    Stanley Cox
    Tax Credits
    Taxes
    Tea Party
    The China Hub
    Tim Jones
    Tom Loehner
    Town Hall
    Transparency
    Veteran
    Veterans
    Video
    Vote
    War
    Workers Compensation


    Archives

    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    January 2013
    September 2012
    August 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photo used under Creative Commons from MoNewsHorizon