When the Missouri Legislature originally considered subsidizing the half-billion dollar “Aerotropolis” project in 2011, the Show-Me Institute had numerous questions. Where, for instance, was the research that substantively showed the plan would work? Why should Missouri subsidize new warehouses around Lambert-St. Louis International Airport when so much warehouse space is already unused? Why were many prominent Aerotropolis supporters claiming that if the incentives were approved, mountains of Missouri beef would be shipped by plane to China – when not only was it illegal to ship American beef to China at the time, it would have been impractical even if it were not illegal? Those questions and others were not adequately answered, and the incentive package, and the special session that was called to consider the proposal, failed as a result.
That brings us to today’s version of the Aerotropolis project, the $60 million “Missouri Export Incentive Act.” While this bill is considerably pared back from the original, the practical and policy problems that beset that first Aerotropolis attempt should not be forgotten.
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