Missouri's Republican voters ambivilent about Fair Tax, study finds
Republican voters aren’t throwing their weight behind a proposal to eliminate personal and corporate income taxes in Missouri — but they aren’t united against it either.
More than half of Republican voters had no opinion on the Fair Tax, according to a survey conducted by Missouri State University researchers in late January.
“The surprising finding regards the majority of state Republicans lacking an opinion on the proposal,” MSU political science professor Brian Calfano said in a statement. “Hence, there may be greater potential for the plan’s proponents and opponents to sway state Republicans on the 'Fair Tax' than conventional wisdom would assume.”
The Fair Tax would eliminate state income taxes on individuals and corporations, but would expand the state sales tax to apply to nearly all goods and services sold in the state.
Democrats were split evenly between supporting it, opposing it and having no opinion. The telephone survey interviewed 880 residents statewide.
The researchers said the survey did not ask about the actual constitutional amendment that has been proposed to enact the Fair Tax, but did ask whether respondents favored replacing the income taxes with sales tax.
HJR 71, the bill to amend the state’s constitution to enact the Fair Tax, was referred to the House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday.
A similar bill, HJR 36, went to the Senate but never came up for a vote last year. Testimony from the bill's hearing in the Senate Ways and Means committee can be found on the Youtube channel for the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
12:27 a.m., Feb. 10, 2010
Beverly Martin said:
For a Missourian to have no opinion on something as vital a Mo Tax Reform Bill HJR56, while not surprising is alarming. HJR56 (inspired by the FairTax) not only elimninates state income taxes on individuals and corporations, but it also offers a rebate of taxes paid up to the poverty level of spending. The prebate is available to all legal MO households and is based on the number of members in the household. It is fair in that everyone would pay the same price on new goods and services Used goods are not taxed. There are no exemptions which means politicians cannot use tax codes to reward friends and punish opponents. It is a simple taxation whereby the tax is paid at the cashier counter minus the odious income tax forms and compliance costs (money and time) we all pay every time we fill out an income tax form. Any Senator or Representative that 'has no opinion' on this issue needs to be voted out of office as incompetent. When Missouri continues to face unemployment rates close of 9.6%, every Senator and every Representative should be knowledgeable about HJR56/SJR29. They are invited to visit www.citizensforfairtax.com and check our research. They can visit www.nomoincometax.org or www.fairtax.org to learn how we could turn our state into a leader instead of the 2nd from the bottom of nine surrounding states in our Real GDP and our Private Job Growth. We are advising citizens to ask every candidate his or her stand on HJR56/SJR29. If a candidate cannot respond intelligently to that question, we suggest voters look for a different candidate. The loss of revenues is critical to our state's ability to function. Continuing to fund government with the inocme tax is to continue the downward spiral of job loss. Getting rid of the state income tax would increase our GDP by $438.6 Billion dollars over the next 25 years. Does this sound like an issue on which your elected officials should have no opinion or be against? There is no excuse for ignorance on the part of our political leaders. The research is available. Beverly Martin Volunteer County Coordinator Callaway Citizens for FairTax 5299 Co Rd 343 Fulton, MO 65251 573642-7540 573-310-4665