Not a ton of meat, but still very inspiring and very much worth a listen. My initial reaction is that I’m impressed with Jason Hall and his work ethic and this unification of STL civic groups was much needed.
https://news.stlpublicradio.org/show/st ... the-region
https://news.stlpublicradio.org/show/st ... the-region
I like everything I have seen from Hall so far. I think he was a good choice to lead this. He seems like a go getter that cares. Also nice to have a new-ish younger face leading one of these groups.
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Watching the Governor of Texas interview on CNBC talking about all the companies, jobs moving to Texas. Missouri isn’t in the same league as Texas. Most every policy they put in place is pro-business, no state income tax, lower regulations, etc. Wake up Missouri, you’re getting your teeth kicked in.
^ I always laugh at the no income tax argument. Texas has oil...Florida has tourism...what’s our big multi-billion dollar industry that pads Missouri’s coffers enough to eliminate the state income tax? Oh, that’s right. There isn’t one.
Missouri is an ultra-conservative red state with liberal cities (just like Texas!) loaded with politicians who focus on nothing but deregulation and low tax policy and is it driving business growth in Missouri? Nope.
Big companies like big cities with good schools, public transportation, infrastructure, etc. Missouri literally can’t provide any of that and I’m not sure how slashing taxes even further is going to help facilitate that.
I lived in KC and worked in Kansas during Kansas' "Sam Brownback/We gotta be like Texas phase" and all it got us were billion dollar deficits. Oh, and the Kansas Supreme Court threatened to sue the state legislature because they were criminally underfunding schools...so the Republican legislature simply attempted to rewrite the school funding formula so they could continue to underfund those schools. It got to the point where rural districts were looking at going to 4 day weeks to save cash. Oh and Brownback took over a billon dollars out of the state highway fund to shore up his massive deficits too. When that stopped working they ended up raising sales taxes, liquor taxes and cigarette taxes to find more sources of revenue since they gave the businesses and rich folks the breaks. At one point the sales tax on food in Kansas was 6.5% and only 1.5% in neighboring Missouri. Which of course caused quite a bit of heartburn in the KC area as supermarkets and other stores were losing revenue to Missouri.
All of that for not one major corporate relocation to Kansas from outside the KC area (and I'm not counting that dumb border war they have over there) in that entire time frame. Over 20 of Brownback's conservatives were finally booted out of office when the dust settled and taxes were raised over his veto objections before he finally took his sorry ass into the night.
Missouri is an ultra-conservative red state with liberal cities (just like Texas!) loaded with politicians who focus on nothing but deregulation and low tax policy and is it driving business growth in Missouri? Nope.
Big companies like big cities with good schools, public transportation, infrastructure, etc. Missouri literally can’t provide any of that and I’m not sure how slashing taxes even further is going to help facilitate that.
I lived in KC and worked in Kansas during Kansas' "Sam Brownback/We gotta be like Texas phase" and all it got us were billion dollar deficits. Oh, and the Kansas Supreme Court threatened to sue the state legislature because they were criminally underfunding schools...so the Republican legislature simply attempted to rewrite the school funding formula so they could continue to underfund those schools. It got to the point where rural districts were looking at going to 4 day weeks to save cash. Oh and Brownback took over a billon dollars out of the state highway fund to shore up his massive deficits too. When that stopped working they ended up raising sales taxes, liquor taxes and cigarette taxes to find more sources of revenue since they gave the businesses and rich folks the breaks. At one point the sales tax on food in Kansas was 6.5% and only 1.5% in neighboring Missouri. Which of course caused quite a bit of heartburn in the KC area as supermarkets and other stores were losing revenue to Missouri.
All of that for not one major corporate relocation to Kansas from outside the KC area (and I'm not counting that dumb border war they have over there) in that entire time frame. Over 20 of Brownback's conservatives were finally booted out of office when the dust settled and taxes were raised over his veto objections before he finally took his sorry ass into the night.
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Also, TX property taxes are, I think, 4th highest in the country.
Early Right to Work laws created a huge shift in jobs from the northern states to the South. Once the momentum was established, it became almost impossible to fight it.
Wyoming has the overall tax-friendliest regime in the contiguous US (Alaska is at the top) and you don't see people flocking there in droves. As sc4mayor wrote, companies are looking for relatively business-friendly states with good public good provision and quality of life. If you just deregulate or lower taxes blindly you end up like Delaware or South Dakota, flooded with shell companies but with a relatively small corporate jobs footprint.
Nothing. I never said it did. But I believe it has a whole lot to do with why states like Texas are kicking our ass.
Yeah, but it also has very little in ways of what I suspect many typical Americans with options would consider an acceptable quality of life compared to say Houston or Dallas. For example, there's not a single Whole Foods in the entire state and the entire state's population is less than like 90 U.S. metro's. Any sort of tech business or a business in need of a specialized/educated pool of talent would be shooting themselves in the foot by moving to a Cheyenne.kipfilet wrote: ↑Dec 02, 2020Wyoming has the overall tax-friendliest regime in the contiguous US (Alaska is at the top) and you don't see people flocking there in droves.
(Nothing personal, Wyoming. I still love your rolling hills and beautiful wide open spaces).
Yes, that is precisely my point. I wouldn't say that high vs low taxes are irrelevant, but I am of the opinion that they are massively overrated as a relocation factor for workers and businesses (it's mostly retirees who tend to care about taxes).OnTheEdge wrote: ↑Dec 02, 2020Yeah, but it also has very little in ways of what I suspect many typical Americans with options would consider an acceptable quality of life compared to say Houston or Dallas. For example, there's not a single Whole Foods in the entire state and the entire state's population is less than like 90 U.S. metro's. Any sort of tech business or a business in need of a specialized/educated pool of talent would be shooting themselves in the foot by moving to a Cheyenne.kipfilet wrote: ↑Dec 02, 2020Wyoming has the overall tax-friendliest regime in the contiguous US (Alaska is at the top) and you don't see people flocking there in droves.
(Nothing personal, Wyoming. I still love your rolling hills and beautiful wide open spaces).
My job involves, to some degree, speaking to local business representatives regarding area economic conditions, what their prospects are, etc. I can tell you that I have never heard anyone complaining about taxes in Missouri. On the other hand, some of the large employers complain about the lack of a talent pool in the region, infrastructure, etc. Things that are directly or indirectly related to public service provision.
They just release a draft jobs plan “STL 2030” '
https://www.greaterstlinc.com/wp-conten ... 3-2020.pdf
Second Action Item:
“The STL Pledge will commit major employers to set and attain clear targets for buying local, hiring local, investing local and locating a portion of their workforce near key nodes and districts in the city’s core in order to create synergistic innovation and broadly shared prosperity.”
“The STL 2030 Jobs Plan strategy to Restore the Core is literally meant to shock the market back into life. Our goal is ambitious but doable—to grow 50,000 jobs within the core of the city
by 2030. “
“Given the need for immediate action, we recommend a three-year surge in worker training to ensure that companies are able to find the skilled workers they need to grow.”
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
https://www.greaterstlinc.com/wp-conten ... 3-2020.pdf
Second Action Item:
“The STL Pledge will commit major employers to set and attain clear targets for buying local, hiring local, investing local and locating a portion of their workforce near key nodes and districts in the city’s core in order to create synergistic innovation and broadly shared prosperity.”
“The STL 2030 Jobs Plan strategy to Restore the Core is literally meant to shock the market back into life. Our goal is ambitious but doable—to grow 50,000 jobs within the core of the city
by 2030. “
“Given the need for immediate action, we recommend a three-year surge in worker training to ensure that companies are able to find the skilled workers they need to grow.”
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
^ Nicklaus had something out in the PD late last night:
https://www.stltoday.com/business/colum ... 6d5cd.html
Jacob Kern in the BJ early this morning:
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... -core.html
https://www.stltoday.com/business/colum ... 6d5cd.html
Jacob Kern in the BJ early this morning:
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... -core.html
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Steve Ehlmann rages like a toddler over Greater Stl Inc. in a recent BJ article. His petulance validates Greater StL Inc's mission.
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... -plan.html
https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/new ... -plan.html
^ He’s such an idiot. He wants to be given everything while the rest of the region just gets left behind. Guess it makes sense he leads St. Charles County.
He's got a point with the earnings tax. If they removed it I'm sure it would be a lot easier to convince some large companies to move to the city. Ultimately I think St Charles would also be included in everything but I don't know how genuine he is because St Charles benefits from the dysfunction of the county and city. I have clients out that way and there is a lot of stuff going on.
^ I think maybe a reduced e-tax might convince a local company or two to open up an office in the city...but in terms of business growth overall I don’t buy it. A similar discussion was had upthread but most companies are looking for good quality of life, civic infrastructure, schools, etc. In many areas, St. Louis can’t provide that largely because of its fragmented dysfunction...not the e-tax, which covers only 10% of the entire Metro area. Columbus, Ohio has a 2.5% income tax...they’re not hurting for companies to open up offices and move jobs there. Cincinnati and Cleveland have income taxes as well. Philadelphia's is 3.98%...Pittsburgh's is 3%...Detroit's is 2.5% (1.25% for nonresidents)...Washington DC's is 8.5% (!!!!!) over $40,000...Louisville's is 2.2% (1.45% on nonresidents)...Baltimore's is 3.05%...etc...
And like most Republicans dying to eliminate a tax in a jurisdiction they don’t represent...they yet again fail to provide an alternative source of revenue for the nearly $200 million the e-tax produces every year. Eliminate that and see how many businesses move here when the city literally can’t pay cops and firefighters.
And like most Republicans dying to eliminate a tax in a jurisdiction they don’t represent...they yet again fail to provide an alternative source of revenue for the nearly $200 million the e-tax produces every year. Eliminate that and see how many businesses move here when the city literally can’t pay cops and firefighters.
E tax is on the ballot in April. How many companies will commit to moving into the city if it's defeated? Don't recall any making the pledge in 2011 or 2016.
" Get rid of the e-tax! Get rid of the personal property tax! Get rid of the state income tax! More money for cops!"
Segmentation fault
Segmentation fault
^ Seriously...Ehlmann bitches about crime in the city but then rants about eliminating a tax whose vast majority of collections go to...public safety.
So stupid.
So stupid.
Of the taxing sources for the city, the e-tax has done the best last I looked. Seems it's not as off-putting as some imagine. Also a sign that the people dying or moving out of the city weren't earning much.
How about this- the state gives you a credit against the state income tax for the earnings tax.
How about this- the state gives you a credit against the state income tax for the earnings tax.
That would be the best solution and what I currently advocate.quincunx wrote: ↑Dec 11, 2020How about this- the state gives you a credit against the state income tax for the earnings tax.
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The earnings tax is rarely a sticking point for companies moving jobs into the cityflipz wrote: ↑Dec 11, 2020He's got a point with the earnings tax. If they removed it I'm sure it would be a lot easier to convince some large companies to move to the city. Ultimately I think St Charles would also be included in everything but I don't know how genuine he is because St Charles benefits from the dysfunction of the county and city. I have clients out that way and there is a lot of stuff going on.