I was reviewing the agenda for the Park Hill School District Board of Education meeting this Thursday and noticed this nugget on the agenda: "Board of Education Support of the Veto to HB 253"
You may not have noticed, but the state of Kansas dropped the nuclear bomb of economic development incentives when they restructured their tax codes and treatment of certain business income taxes to 0%.
This comes on the heels of another company moving from the Missouri side to the Kansas Side without any reason other than the business climate from what I read from the article. The state of Kansas has better protections for sole-proprietors with regard to seperating personal assets versus business assets and even the Kauffman Foundation gives a better grade to the "Free State."
Here is my illustrative simple math on the tax reasons why MarketSphere would move. The article states they did $62.9M of revenue in 2012. Since the are a consulting company and make a healthy 10% pre-tax profit margin. That would calculate to a $6.3M profit. If they were to stay in Missouri with its 6% tax rate, that would mean a tax bill of $378k. Think about that number. That's a big number that could be used to hire more people in order to grow the business or be used for other purposes. Kansas is betting that the loss of business income will be offset by additional personal income tax of net new employees.
The state of Missouri does not have a revenue problem. The state of Missouri has a spending problem. I picked on the university system since I hear a lot whining about cuts to higher education.
The Missouri Government Accountability Portal wasn't very accountable and didn't have current 2012 salary data for the numerous Department of Higher Education employees so I had to do some digging. I came across the Springfield News-Leader state employee salary database and put a table together of all the public university employee's salaries who made six figures. I wasn't sure of the year of the data but am assuming it was 2006 since the database lists Claire McCaskill as the State Auditor. I picked one lucky professor of marketing, Srinivasan Ratneshwar, who according to the SNL database pulled down a salary of $195,130. I then found this site which had 2009 salary data and Mr. Ratneshwar was pulling down a cool $233,111. I don't really know what a professor of marketing is making now but I bet it is a lot more than what the private side of the marketing profession is making in the FDR New Deal "new economy."
Here is a listing of salary data and names for the 1030 or so university employees that made over six figures from the 2006ish SNL database. Download 2006ish-Missouri-University-Salaries
Maybe we could pay our teachers more or reduce class sizes if the state wasn't paying inflated salaries to professors who teach such valuable classes like:
WGST 2960. Sexual Health Advocacy and Service Learning. 3 Credits.Students will critically investigate sexuality and reproductive health within a cultural context including religious, political, social justice, familial, and societal influences. Through assigned readings, reflection, experiential learning, small group activities and discussion, students will increase their awareness of sexual health issues, enhance self awareness, and learn how to effectively educate their peers surrounding issues of sexual health. Prerequisite: sophomore standing.
OR
SOCIOL 3300. Queer Theories/Identities. 3 Credits.
(same as Women's and Gender Studies [WGST] 3300). Analysis of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender (glbt) and queer identities in culture and society with an emphasis on the contributions of queer theory and other glbt standpoint theories to sociology and the study of society. Prerequisite: Sociology [SOCIOL] 2200 or instructor's consent.
OR
PLNT_S 3210. Principles of Weed Science. 4 Credits.
Introduction to principles of weed growth, reproduction, and impact on human activities. Discussion of weed control techniques and technology, weed identification, and developing weed management strategies. Prerequisite: PLNT_S 2110 or BIO_SC 1200.
I would love to spend $300+ tuition per credit hour to take those babies. I couldn't find anything on the pension system since I didn't look further past the employee benefits page of UMC.
I also found this little nugget where you can see what we paid the "leadership" at all the public universities. I with I had UMKC's Leo Morton's 2012 base salary of $289,750, housing allowance of $57,300, automobile allowance of $17,090, performance award of $27,075, and other fringe benefits around $35,000.
Maybe if the university system had to cut back like the rest of us, we wouldn't be paying such inflated salaries and promoting degrees (Art History, Classical and Ancient Studies, Peace Studies, etc) with little return on investment and classes that could be replaced with a 30 minute video.
I guess you have to have a "Family Studies" program since the counter-cultural revolution of the 1960's has been so successful at endangering the traditional nuclear family. Does the University of Missouri really need to offer over 50 classes on Women's and Gender Studies? That women's study degree will come in real handy at the women's studies factory down the street won't it?
Taking a quick gander at that list makes me even wonder if any of these will ever be used behind the counter at Starbucks where I'm sure someone possessing a M.A. in Women's and Gender Studies will be working for the rest of their life......
Bottom line, if more businesses continue to leave Missouri for Kansas, then there won't be any of this revenue and these cuts will take place anyways. Missouri borders 8 states. The NW part of Arkansas has thousands of companies that have located there because of Wal-Mart. Think some of those companies might move up to Joplin or Neosho to save on taxes?
The state of Missouri can pro-actively work to deal with the impacts of the static revenue losses the first year or two and then reap the rewards of additional revenue from economic growth. Take a look at Detroit and see how fast a vicious cycle of decline caused by uncompetitive fiscal policy and shrinking tax base can destroy an economy. Or cover your ears and yell "lalalalalala" real loud and lie to yourself that no one seems to mind paying a 6% corporate income tax when they can move 2 miles away and pay 0%.
The Park Hill School Board should be leading the efforts to Grow Missouri.
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