No more property taxes -- that's the mantra espoused by supporters of a petition to amend the state constitution.
But the group backing the amendment may soon hear something different from the Missouri Ethics Commission -- campaign finance violation.
In June the Missouri Secretary of State's office approved a petition to collect signatures for a constitutional amendment on the Nov. 2010 ballot to eliminate property and personal property taxes costing state and local government about $8.5 billion annually.
Although the petition does not explicitly say how local governments and school districts would recover lost revenue, supporters say the elimination of property taxes could be a boon for the state's economy which would attract new businesses seeking tax-free status.
The initiative was spearheaded by Angela Basham who developed the proposal over the last two years, according to a website advocating the proposal.
"Our legislatures [sic] have not been able to do anything for you...to limit the tax dollars on your real estate," Basham writes on a website for supporters. "Yes, this is a drastic measure and will require a massive re-do on the part of our legisature [sic] to provide revenue for public schools."
Supporters have not acknowledged that property taxes are generally considered by economists and government officials to be the most stable form of taxes available. During periods of economic downturns, income and sales taxes decrease disproportionate to property taxes, which then form the basis of government revenues. Under this initiative, income and sales taxes would become the primary avenue for government revenues, and thus increase the troughs experienced by governments during economic downturns.
The website for supporters encourages contributions for the initiative to the Campaign for the Elimination of Real and Personal Property Tax whose Treasurer is Judy Messex. As of Dec. 30, the Missouri Ethics Commission does not report that appropriate paperwork has been filed for this committee to collect funds.
Current state campaign finance laws require that any group distributing material about a ballot measure file a statement of organization within 20 days of the group's creation and subsequently file quarterly reports disclosing receipts and expenditures.
Related Links:
nomopropertytaxes.com
Basham on Youtube: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5
Official Petition (via Secretary of State website)
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Group backing initiative to eliminate property taxes lacks fundraising committee
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1 comments:
These people sound crazy. Take a look at their website. Every other word is misspelled. It's amazing to me that they managed to even get a petition cleared by Carnahan's office.
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