City government’s sole purpose is providing services to the taxpayers. Without a doubt, the most important service we provide is police protection. Public safety is the cornerstone of every community in America, and St. Louis is no different. Residents and visitors alike must feel safe and be confident in their law-enforcement officers in order for a community to thrive. St. Louis cannot continue to move forward as a community and build on its many successes without a fully funded police department.
Unfortunately, this most valuable of services to the people is being threatened by a few who want to eliminate the earnings tax.
The St. Louis City earnings tax is a one percent local income tax that city residents and people who work in the city pay. This fiscal year, it is expected to bring in $137.5 million and is the city’s largest revenue source by far.
Almost one-third of the city’s general fund budget relies on revenue from the earnings tax. To put that into perspective, the city’s police department is roughly one-third of the city’s general fund budget this year at $129.4 million. The police department’s budget can be directly tied to the city’s earnings tax revenue. Without the earnings tax, it is easy to see that the City of St. Louis would be forced to make drastic cuts in public safety and virtually every other service provided to the taxpayers.
According to the Missouri Budget Project, “the options for replacing the earnings tax are limited… St. Louis, for example, would have to more than triple its current local sales tax rate, increasing the rate from 1.4 percent to 5.3 percent. But this could act to deter shopping within the city as some shoppers may seek to avoid the higher sales tax rate. St. Louis could instead enhance the property tax, but the property tax would need to increase up to four times its current amount to raise the needed revenue.”
Even during the nation’s economic downturn, the city of St. Louis continues to move forward. Private investment dollars are still finding their way into city development projects. Downtown and neighborhood development is picking up pace. Right now there is more than $400 million in development happening in downtown alone. The city recently broke ground on a $23 million recreation center in North St. Louis.
Thousands of jobs are being created, getting city residents back to work and putting St. Louis on the road to recovery. The last thing St. Louis residents and visitors need is an ill-conceived ballot measure that puts a damper on all the city’s development and job creation.
The earning tax is St. Louis’ lifeblood. It funds our police department and is the catalyst that drives the region’s largest economy and job creator. Without the earning tax, the City cannot deliver adequate services to its citizens. I strongly urge you to vote against repealing the earnings tax and vote NO ON PROPOSITION A ON November 2. St. Louis’ future depends on it.
