Last night, we posted a quick link to the Post-Dispatch’s story on the Earnings Tax’s overwhelming victory at the polls. To be sure, this isn’t the end of the debate – only the beginning.
This morning, the Post-Dispatch’s Tim Logan spells out two different studies commissioned by Show-Me Institute Founder Rex Sinquefield. The first shows the package of alternatives that could replace the cited $130 million that the city raises, through its current 1% tax on those who live or work in the city. The second Sinquefield-commissioned study shows ways the region could work together, combining services, etc., without actually merging governments.
Again, while it’s not SNIA’s place to take an official position on this, one way or another, it is abundantly clear that our neighborhood (which runs the gamut, from Democratic operatives to Show-Me Institute staffers) has strong opinions on the issue.
We have five years until this question comes up again. It would behoove us to take a serious look at what we can do better – and for all sides to have a legitimate place at the table. In fact, we have an opportunity to model, in this neighborhood, the kind of civil discourse that our country sorely lacks right now. And, given our neighborhood’s past reputation for “Balkanization,” such civil discourse would be proof that we can, in fact, come together to reach workable solutions for shared problems.
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