Nearly a decade ago, I argued that the alternatives to the earnings tax were not fiscally sufficient, politically feasible, or economically desirable. That argument has only gotten stronger.
You might want to consider re-publishing your classic RFT article "How Better Together's Plan Will Circumvent Democracy and Bankrupt St. Louis" here on your Substack page, perhaps with suitable updates. I wish that I'd saved a copy of the text before the RFT melted down.
I also remember that you had written that an analysis from Sinquefield's own funded institute indicated that eliminating the earnings tax makes no sense, but that institute suppressed the report (of course). I hope that you saved a pdf of that report, perhaps stating the obvious.
Thanks for the links to these docs. I have a rather simplistic Freudian-ish theory about Sinquefield's vendetta about the earnings tax, which has nothing to do with standard economics as such, but involves his mother, so to speak. It goes like this (and maybe this post will get me in trouble down the line).
When Rex was 7, his father died. His mother beeyotched and moaned about the earnings tax that she couldn't raise a family with that 'burden'. At one point, she put Rex in an orphanage, St. Vincent's, for a while. In short, my guess is that Rex's mother taught Rex to hate the earnings tax with an all-consuming rage. Decades later, with Rex as a multi-billionaire and able to buy as many politicians as he pleases, he gets that dumb amendment written into the Missouri Constitution, and also slips in that provision into the "Better Together" plans to sunset the earnings tax without a vote.
What this theory boils down to is that Rex wants to eliminate the earnings taxes in both STL and KC, MO, i.e. to starve funding for essential city services in both cities, for one very petty and selfish reason: to get revenge for his mommy.
I honestly think that theory makes a lot of sense - he has said that he remembers her complaining that she couldn't afford the damn earnings tax, and went on to dedicate his political efforts to cutting taxes and privatizing public goods (schools, airports, water departments). It's pretty sad when you think about it, he probably rationalized all the pain and abandonment he felt as a child onto taxes, and came to blame them for hurting his mother, separating him from her, and reducing economic growth of course...
The other essential element to his politics though, is that, since he became a billionaire by going to the University of Chicago and helping invent index funds, he is a true believer in the power and efficiency of the market, and he thinks that since he got lucky, anyone can pull themselves up by their bootstraps. In short, as I've occasionally explained to my friends, he is STL's reverse (and much less exciting) batman - but instead of taking on the criminals who killed his parents, he's taking on the taxes his mom blamed for putting him in the orphanage.
The irony is that the actual injustice of the poor being forced to pay an earnings tax that they can't afford can be easily resolved through progressive tax rates and refundable tax credits. The tragedy is that Sinquefield's endorsed policies (i.e. KS/MO income tax cuts) often wind up shifting tax burdens from progressive income taxes to regressive sales taxes, which actually winds up disproportionately burdening the single mothers of the world. Also, parents should receive generous public assistance, as is the norm in many nations around the world.
I remember Sinquefield being behind privatization of Lambert Airport, another of his dumb and destructive ideas. I should have guessed that he's also behind the push to eliminate the MO state income tax, as reported by Rudi Keller in the Missouri Independent:
"Eliminating the income tax in favor of sales taxes has been a goal of Missouri’s most prolific Republican donor, Rex Sinquefield.
Since 2016, Sinquefield has poured more than $28 million into Missouri politics."
This sounds very much like the Kansas-Sam Brownback tax debacle from years back. Kehoe and the MO Republicans with their super-majorities in the General Assembly (enabled, of course, by the majority-dumb MO electorate) seem foolishly determined to repeat this same mistake. I understand that Nebraska is going through the same self-induced fiscal meltdown as Kansas.
Precisely because Sinquefield has so much money and America is a country that worships money above everything else, he pretty much thinks that he can get away with anything in terms of pushing his bad ideas through the General Assembly, and foisting them on the voters. Plus, so many bigoted social policies (i.e. anti-anyone not cis white male) make this state an even less attractive one for new people to move to, when such people wouldn't feel welcome (outside of STL and KC, or maybe Columbia). If the voters are stupid enough to approve this "dump the income tax" idea this November, then that's it for MO state finances.
You might want to consider re-publishing your classic RFT article "How Better Together's Plan Will Circumvent Democracy and Bankrupt St. Louis" here on your Substack page, perhaps with suitable updates. I wish that I'd saved a copy of the text before the RFT melted down.
I also remember that you had written that an analysis from Sinquefield's own funded institute indicated that eliminating the earnings tax makes no sense, but that institute suppressed the report (of course). I hope that you saved a pdf of that report, perhaps stating the obvious.
Thanks George! Luckily I was able to salvage a copy of my article from the wreckage (the RFT's collapse was seriously so tragic, and such a loss for STL) you can find it here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14JldIht0-ACSKOM1XTxhWWYxeShGYG39/view
As for the report, great catch that the Missouri Council for a Better Economy, which commissioned PFM to produce the report back in 2011 commission took down the report! Just uploaded my copy here for future reference: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CHUJNGfiCFSHgRNAjvrlSNSriZ6XTT9b/view?usp=sharing
Thanks for the links to these docs. I have a rather simplistic Freudian-ish theory about Sinquefield's vendetta about the earnings tax, which has nothing to do with standard economics as such, but involves his mother, so to speak. It goes like this (and maybe this post will get me in trouble down the line).
When Rex was 7, his father died. His mother beeyotched and moaned about the earnings tax that she couldn't raise a family with that 'burden'. At one point, she put Rex in an orphanage, St. Vincent's, for a while. In short, my guess is that Rex's mother taught Rex to hate the earnings tax with an all-consuming rage. Decades later, with Rex as a multi-billionaire and able to buy as many politicians as he pleases, he gets that dumb amendment written into the Missouri Constitution, and also slips in that provision into the "Better Together" plans to sunset the earnings tax without a vote.
What this theory boils down to is that Rex wants to eliminate the earnings taxes in both STL and KC, MO, i.e. to starve funding for essential city services in both cities, for one very petty and selfish reason: to get revenge for his mommy.
I honestly think that theory makes a lot of sense - he has said that he remembers her complaining that she couldn't afford the damn earnings tax, and went on to dedicate his political efforts to cutting taxes and privatizing public goods (schools, airports, water departments). It's pretty sad when you think about it, he probably rationalized all the pain and abandonment he felt as a child onto taxes, and came to blame them for hurting his mother, separating him from her, and reducing economic growth of course...
The other essential element to his politics though, is that, since he became a billionaire by going to the University of Chicago and helping invent index funds, he is a true believer in the power and efficiency of the market, and he thinks that since he got lucky, anyone can pull themselves up by their bootstraps. In short, as I've occasionally explained to my friends, he is STL's reverse (and much less exciting) batman - but instead of taking on the criminals who killed his parents, he's taking on the taxes his mom blamed for putting him in the orphanage.
The irony is that the actual injustice of the poor being forced to pay an earnings tax that they can't afford can be easily resolved through progressive tax rates and refundable tax credits. The tragedy is that Sinquefield's endorsed policies (i.e. KS/MO income tax cuts) often wind up shifting tax burdens from progressive income taxes to regressive sales taxes, which actually winds up disproportionately burdening the single mothers of the world. Also, parents should receive generous public assistance, as is the norm in many nations around the world.
I remember Sinquefield being behind privatization of Lambert Airport, another of his dumb and destructive ideas. I should have guessed that he's also behind the push to eliminate the MO state income tax, as reported by Rudi Keller in the Missouri Independent:
https://missouriindependent.com/2026/04/16/republicans-squeeze-tax-overhaul-through-missouri-senate-in-late-night-vote/
"Eliminating the income tax in favor of sales taxes has been a goal of Missouri’s most prolific Republican donor, Rex Sinquefield.
Since 2016, Sinquefield has poured more than $28 million into Missouri politics."
This sounds very much like the Kansas-Sam Brownback tax debacle from years back. Kehoe and the MO Republicans with their super-majorities in the General Assembly (enabled, of course, by the majority-dumb MO electorate) seem foolishly determined to repeat this same mistake. I understand that Nebraska is going through the same self-induced fiscal meltdown as Kansas.
Precisely because Sinquefield has so much money and America is a country that worships money above everything else, he pretty much thinks that he can get away with anything in terms of pushing his bad ideas through the General Assembly, and foisting them on the voters. Plus, so many bigoted social policies (i.e. anti-anyone not cis white male) make this state an even less attractive one for new people to move to, when such people wouldn't feel welcome (outside of STL and KC, or maybe Columbia). If the voters are stupid enough to approve this "dump the income tax" idea this November, then that's it for MO state finances.