The first question, now being answered, is what leverage will departments have to reallocate money to different programs.. The key word here is leverage and how much of the money can be used to offset already budgeted funds.
The multi-billion dollar handout has kicked local geo-political entities into high gear and Missouri Governor Jay Nixon launched a website last week to ensure anyone with a good idea can contribute their two cents with a potential multi-million dollar return.
Conservative Missouri Senator Matt Bartle submits, "Missouri's current economic development policy is seriously flawed and tremendously beholden to those with political influence." in his weekly editorial posted on Branson Agent.
During the Missouri Republican Convention in Branson last summer debate over the Fair-Tax which proposes elimination of income tax replace by sales tax created unlikely bedfellows.
From Chad Livengood reporting from Jefferson City for the Springfield News-Leader:
Rep. Ed Emery, R-Lamar, and Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia, presented separate bills to a House committee that advocate for the creation of a system that taxes people based on how much they consume, not how much they earn.
Emery's bill calls for raising the state sales tax from 4.225 percent to 5.11 percent and eliminating the 6 percent personal income tax and 6.25 percent tax on business earnings.
The tax structure is what's known as a "fair tax," because it taxes people equally based on their spending and gets rid of all exemptions and refundable tax credits.
As details about regulations regarding stimulus money, journalists won't be calling any of it monkey business. But the Missourian reports on the first project to receive stimulus money dubbed by some as - "Missouri's Bridge to Nowhere"
Assembled by Darin Codon
