By Dan Mehan,
President and CEO, Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Dick Fleming,
President and CEO, St. Louis RCGA
After backing down in 1998, a group promoting taxpayer-financed
elections has resurfaced, this time targeting Missouri employers
to foot the bill. A D.C.-funded group has been successful at
placing on the statewide election ballot in 2000 an initiative
forcing Missouri businesses taxpayers to pay for the political
campaigns of legislative and statewide candidates. The estimated
annual cost of this initiative is $13 million and would be funded
by increasing the annual franchise tax on all corporations with
assets of more than $2 million—estimated to be 18,000 firms.
The group takes the tone that they are above the fray when it
comes to campaign financing. Ironically, as they claim wanting
to take the influence of money out of Missouri’s elections,
the group accepted in the last reporting quarter of 1999 $94,525
to finance its initiative — $75,000 of which came from only
two out-of-state sources who have funded similar efforts in
other states. The most recent reporting quarter showed they
received another $90,000 from out of state interests.
It’s no coincidence that the franchise tax is the target of
this misguided initiative. It was the franchise tax reduction
plan, signed into law in June 1999—after an intense lobbying
effort by the Missouri Chamber of Commerce the RCGA and other
business organizations—that gave Missouri employers their first
broad-based tax relief in Missouri history. The legislation
was designed to stimulate broad based business growth and job
creation; however, this absurd initiative threatens to negate
the ground that was gained. Among others, the group’s supporters
include several labor unions, the Missouri Coalition for Single
Payer Health Care, the Sierra Club, and ACORN —the group behind
the minimum wage increase ballot issue in 1996.
Although the group has stated that the initiative would cost
$13 million, there is no way to project the actual financial
impact since the fund must match the spending of candidates
who choose not to participate in the program. In addition, the
fund is tied to the CPI, guaranteeing an additional tax increase
every year.
It comes down to this question: Do you want to be taxed to pay
for the political campaigns of candidates that you don’t know
and may not even support? Whether you are a business owner paying
the proposed franchise tax increase, or a consumer who will
ultimately pay a hidden tax through increased price of goods
or services, this initiative will cost you — and will fly in
the face of voter choice.
