Earnings Tax

[bahua]

JoCo, WyCo, and LeavenworthCo certainly have the highest taxes on gasoline in Kansas, and I'd be willing to bet that the highest taxes for just about anything else on which there is a tax, statewide, exist in these counties.

[KC0KEK]

Interesting article that is only slightly off topic...

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/pf/ ... est/8.html

Kansas is ranked 17th and Missouri 34th in total tax as a % of income.  Simply reinforces the idea that Kansas overall has higher taxes.  If you add in the 1% Etax they basically equal out. 

Thanks for posting. That is interesting. And as someone who's leaving Kansas to move back to Missouri, I will look forward to paying a bit less in taxes. I'll have to check with my accountant to see if I need to move my business before June in order to be considered as having spent more of 2007 in Missouri than in Kansas.

[KCPowercat]

Sorry I posted...I was just trying to give a case study on how the 1% earnings tax affects businesses....not great takes telling this company to not look at KCMO.  Luckily this isn't the reaction of the EDC.

My friend is still looking to move to KCMO despite the 1% earnings tax......we all understand what it's used for and why it's there and I don't have a problem with it.  Just looking at options....I mean the group out of MO published a paper saying the exact same thing.....but whatever.

[aknowledgeableperson]

I doubt that a company would locate or move from KCMO just because of the E-tax.  These decisions by companies and individuals take into account many different factors and they are weighed differently.  If companies were concerned with total costs why would a company locate on the Plaza?  It has one of the highest, if not the highest, lease rates in the area.  Why would a company choose Crown Center with its higher lease rates instead of DT?  Companies are willing to pay a higher cost if there is a reason, no matter what it is or what they are, to justify it.

People focus on the E-tax locally since KCMO is the only local government to implement it.  The city of St. Louis also has an E-tax and I am sure that many others in the country also have a similiar tax.

[KCPowercat]

nobody said it was a sole reason for a company to move out.

Well, an economics professor did:  http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansa ... ily27.html

[DaveKCMO]

Investor's anti-earnings tax campaign

Lobbyist William Gamble told council members that mega-bucks investor Rex Sinquefield is mounting a campaign to toss out Kansas City's and St. Louis' earnings taxes. A group affiliated Sinquefield has sent out fliers that council members describe as "very slick."

Gamble said "we need to go to work" to emphasize to state lawmakers the serious financial implications of abolishing the income tax. The city gets $198 million in earning taxes and net profits revenue from workers, residents and businesses.

[Tosspot]

They're reporting on the news some new push to do away with the KCMO earnings tax.

[FangKC]

Rah Rah.  Stand at a podium and shout: "Abolish the E Tax," but don't give any alternatives for raising revenue to replace it.  Just mumble platitudes about streamlining and cutting.  What a speech.  Easy to give when you are running for governor in a primary, and not mayor of the municipalities you are advocating cutting a large source of tax revenue from.

Why not also include platitudes about how children are our greatest, and most precious, resource while you are at it.   

Give me a break. These candidates have no real intention to abolish the E-tax. They are just for cutting E-taxes to fool people into voting for them, and then doing nothing.

The revenue lost is going to have to be made up somewhere else.  Provide answers to those questions and stop with the hyperbole.

[PumpkinStalker]

Angry much Fang?

[FangKC]

I seldom get angry, but I do get disgusted with politicians advocating for things without providing solutions to their proposals.

[AllThingsKC]

Angry much Fang?

Fang doesn't get mad, he gets even!

...I do get disgusted with politicians advocating for things without providing solutions to their proposals.

Fang, are you new to politics?  If politicians have to spend time coming up with solutions to their proposals, when will they have time to cover up their sex scandals? 


Also, wasn't the earnings tax supposed to expire several years ago?

[GRID]

If KCMO ever does get rid of the E tax, it will be one of the only times I will say, I'm glad I don't live in KCMO.  Property taxes, fees, sales taxes etc will go through the roof, city auto stickers will come back, what trash and snow plowing they have now will be contracted out and you will get a bill for it.

I honestly don't see how KCMO could even dream of getting rid of that tax, especially now with taxes from the casinos in serious trouble from the KS casinos, the existing deficit etc.  KCMO would just go bankrupt without it and nobody would want to live in the city limits of KCMO, north or south of the river.  You think people avoid KCMO now because of the Etax (I don't, I think it's a bunch of BS)?  Just wait till the city has to find a way to raise 300 million dollars a year from new sources, all of which will be from KCMO residents and businesses.  At least now over half the tax comes from outside of KCMO.  I think 1/2 the etax raised comes from MO side suburbanites and ¼ or 1/8 comes from Kansas.

Imagine KCMO without an Etax tomorrow.  Would KCMO all of the sudden become the place to live in KCMO?  No, it wouldn't change a damn thing.

The Etax is just something people like to bitch about.  Well, get rid of it and then you will see some bitching because KCMO would instantly be in horrible shape.

[WoodDraw]

I can sympathize with those who think the etax is a shitty tax, but what's the solution?  KC is in a situation where a large percentage of its workers live outside of the city, yet still actively use the infrastructure.  We've seen this problem recently with downtown subsidies and sports complex renovations.  Consumption taxes can make up for part of the difference, but for public goods and expensive projects, they aren't adequate.  How else can KC reach its entire tax base without an earnings tax?

[KCKev]

Well incorporate yourself and take advantage of King Bush tax breaks!

[Beermo]

if they were doing something with my money that helped me out i wouldn't bitch about it, but when they just give the money away to millionaires i don't like it.

by helping me out i'm referring to using the money for the city's street's or lighting or signage. something other than just giving it away to people that don't need it.

people bitch about it because they feel that the city is just wasting the money.

[nota]

if they were doing something with my money that helped me out i wouldn't bitch about it, but when they just give the money away to millionaires i don't like it.

by helping me out i'm referring to using the money for the city's street's or lighting or signage. something other than just giving it away to people that don't need it.

people bitch about it because they feel that the city is just wasting the money.

Great post. A lot of us echo your thoughts.

[lock+load]

The point of the e-tax is not to help non-residents out.  It is to reduce the tax burden on residents by shifting it to non-residents who are employed in the city and thus are using city services and infrastructure without otherwise paying for it.

[nota]

The point of the e-tax is not to help non-residents out.  It is to reduce the tax burden on residents by shifting it to non-residents who are employed in the city and thus are using city services and infrastructure without otherwise paying for it.

And those of us who are employed in the city but live outside pay our fair share. It's just that many of us feel that the city squanders the money they get.

[WyCo]

The point of the e-tax is not to help non-residents out.  It is to reduce the tax burden on residents by shifting it to non-residents who are employed in the city and thus are using city services and infrastructure without otherwise paying for it.

So JoCo should institute one too?  Lots of KCMO folks driving over to Sprint using up all that Johnson County infrastructure.

[kard]

I live in MO but pay KS income taxes.  Noooooo!

I guess you could sum this whole thing up as "sometimes, life just isn't fair."