Recently, in late October, the Speaker of the House and several of us that are Committee Chairmen in the Missouri House of Representatives sat down with the Joplin Globe Editorial Board to discuss a series of legislative issues that may be debated in the upcoming legislative session which starts in January of 2010.
Naturally, one of the main topics was the economy and the condition of our state budget.
It is no secret that Missouri, like all other states, is in very difficult financial times.
Due to the current economic conditions, state revenue numbers are down considerably.
Last session the members of our Budget Committee, from both sides of the aisle, worked around the clock to produce a balanced budget, and their assignment was not an easy one.
This year, it appears the task will be an even more difficult one.
In fact, Budget Chairman Allen Icet, who has served in the House for seven years, said “I have never seen a budget situation like this in all of my time at the Missouri State Capitol.”
During the discussion about the state budget, one of the questions asked by the Editorial Board was asked very simply and directly, “Will you raise taxes?”
The answer from everyone around the table was an immediate and unanimous “no”.
Right now families in Missouri are sitting around the kitchen table each day trying to cut where they can and trim their household budgets to the minimum to make ends meet.
I believe if families are doing that, they should expect no less of their state government.
Taking more money from those very families, the working families of our state and increasing the tax burden on them, is not the answer to surviving the current recession.
As we prepare to begin the next legislative session the first of next year, you can be assured that increasing your taxes is not considered an option in the Missouri House of Representatives.
We will have to make some hard decisions when it comes to the state budget this next session, but the one decision that is not hard is the one to not raise your taxes.
My personal feeling is that taking tax dollars from Missourians for government to spend is not what stimulates the economy, allowing Missourians to keep their own money and spend it as they need to, is.
As always, if I can ever be of service please contact me at my capitol office at (573) 751-1446, by e-mail at
david.day@house.mo.gov or through my Web site at www.StateRepDay.com.
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