State Budgets

Enhancing Missouri’s Economic Vitality With Tax Policy: Jonathan Williams on 104.1 KSGF

ALEC Chief Economist and Executive Vice President of Policy Jonathan Williams, spoke with Missouri State Representative Bishop Davidson on 104.KSGF about the importance of fiscal responsibility in state budgets and the benefits of adopting a Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) like the one in Colorado.

Coming out of the artificial government lockdowns and the COVID pandemic, and with all these Biden bucks circulating in state capitals, we have seen an incredible tax cut revolution—not really predicated by the Biden bucks at all. However, it certainly ended the surpluses. We’ve seen money sloshing around, and the states had to make a critical decision.

They were at an inflection point, perhaps a once-in-a-generation moment, at least in terms of fiscal policy in the last three or four years: do you grow the size and scope of government with these surpluses, or do you give those surpluses back to hardworking taxpayers who fueled the surpluses by working hard, getting out there, and reopening?

That’s been, I think, one of the biggest stories, and of course, the mainstream media in New York and Washington completely ignore this. But we’ve had 25 states substantially cut taxes over the last several sessions, mostly focused on personal income tax and business income tax—things that matter for growth. That’s the key story here.

As you know, this isn’t just about putting marginal tax rates on a chalkboard and debating one over the other. We’re talking about how states can absolutely change their trajectory and become growth states. I write the book Rich States, Poor States every year with Arthur Laffer, Reagan’s economist, and Steve Moore. It’s all about how states grow, how they can succeed, and how, at an individual level, we can build a much more prosperous, healthy community—one that keeps our kids and grandkids in the community—if we get things like tax policy right.

Listen to the full interview.


In Depth: State Budgets

Smart budgeting is vital to a state’s financial health. The ALEC State Budget Reform Toolkit offers more than 20 policy ideas for addressing today’s shortfalls in a forthright manner, without resorting to budget gimmicks or damaging tax increases. One way to stabilize budgets over time is to embrace…

+ State Budgets In Depth