Looks like Parson will veto a bill sending Missouri taxpayers $500 checks. That’s good

Gov. Mike Parson appears ready to veto HB 2090, a bill that would give most Missourians — although not all of them — a rebate from the state treasury of up to $500. Married couples would get up to $1000.

A final decision is expected by the end of the week.

We’ve been critical of the governor in the past — when he has deserved criticism, which is often — but we support the veto of the tax rebate bill. While we’d like a fat check in the mail, like anyone else, this measure is too expensive and unwieldy to do much good.

The cost to the state is enormous, up to $500 million. Even in a state bursting at the seams with cash thanks to President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats, it’s an extravagance. And it’s particularly concerning in a state that still underfunds a long list of public goods.

“The state has critical needs in education, health and mental health, affordable workforce housing, safe drinking water,” said a statement from the Missouri Budget Project. “The funds could be better used, and have a broader and more sustainable impact, by investing in these needs.”

We agree. The General Assembly would have been better advised to set the $500 million aside for more difficult economic times, when state spending will be essential.

Moreover, H.B. 2090 is badly structured and unfair. Because it’s based on income tax liability, it provides little or no relief for taxpayers with little or no income taxes. One analysis says nearly one-third of all Missouri taxpayers would not get a rebate check.

“I absolutely don’t think it’s appropriate for us to be giving this money out to other folks and not the third of Missourians (who) make the least,” said state Rep. Peter Merideth of St. Louis, earlier this month.

That’s the main reason the Missouri Budget Project and the Missouri chapter of the AARP have called for a veto of the tax measure.

“Folks with limited incomes are already feeling the pressure of increased costs for their basic necessities,” said a statement from Jay Hardenbrook of AARP Missouri. “Yet they are left out of this flawed economic relief.”

What Missouri truly needs is tax reform: increasing income tax liability for higher earners and corporations, while reducing local reliance on spending and taxes by cities and counties. Ideally, tax reform would be revenue neutral — it wouldn’t increase the overall tax burden, but shift it to those who can afford it.

Perhaps that’s an issue the legislature could pursue next year.

Lawmakers could override the governor’s veto of HB 2090 later this year, but that appears unlikely. We urge them not to do so, despite the temptation of looming elections.

Kansas considered a $250 rebate program, too. We said such a rebate would be dangerous to the state’s fiscal health, and we’ve seen nothing to change that view. Republicans in the Kansas Legislature quickly abandoned the idea.

We hope the governor’s veto will quiet the loud lamentations among Republicans that middle-class families are suffering under the weight of crippling inflation caused by Washington’s spending habits.

Inflation is real. But it has many causes — including, it must be said, the injection of billions of dollars into the economy in 2020 and 2021 to overcome the ravages of COVID-19. No one should doubt that sending $500 checks to well-off Missourians would add to inflationary pressures in the state.

No. Missouri should save the money for essential services, or use it to provide meaningful tax relief, not a one-time bonus for the rich. We support a veto of the tax rebate legislation.