There is a great deal going on in Jefferson City these days, which might normally be a bad thing, as I take P.J. O’Rourke’s attitude toward government gridlock, where, "Preventing the government from governing is like preventing a pit bull from eating your child." That being said, there are some excellent ideas moving forward. Let’s succinctly take them one at a time:
Reassessment in Missouri might be undergoing some much-needed changes with Senate Bill 711, sponsored by Senator Gibbons. It appears to be sailing through, and it will address one of the primary problems with assessment and taxation — when taxing entities already below their legal cap don’t roll back rates after a reassessment. This change, which will mandate a 100-percent rollback during reassessments, will be a great improvement for the taxpayers of Missouri.
The state is also considering additional sales tax holidays. Instead of debating this one again around SMI, I’ll just point you to last year’s debate on the subject. And before Sarah tears into me, I just want to note that I completely agree with her earlier post today. I will say that if they propose too many of these tax holidays, I might have to start agreeing with Sarah and Tim on the issue.
Justin and Eric have been arguing about the proposals to toughen the rules for initiative petitions. I agree with many of Eric’s points, but on the whole Justin is right. Too many people, particularly on the left side of the political spectrum, are going around our democratic system with idiotic proposals on things that should be made by legislators who have studied an issue and put it through the legislative process, rather than the masses who will have no idea what they are voting on, or will just vote for what make them feels good. I am specifically referring here to the stupid proposal to expand Medicaid in the state through an initiative petition. If you want to expand Medicaid and the welfare state, then elect people to office who agree with you. That is how our country is supposed to work, Eric’s history lesson notwithstanding. To be clear, I merely support making the signature requirements higher and banning collectors from being paid by the signature, which is an open invitation to fraud. I don’t want to get rid of the system entirely.
Finally, the bills regarding repealing the controversial village ordinance from last session are also moving forward. There is no need to make it easier to form a municipality in Missouri. Private property rights are separate from the ability to declare your own property as a political entity all on its own. It would be a good idea to repeal last year’s law and go back to the way it was in Missouri.
