By Adam Allington, KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – A plan for phasing out Missouri's income tax is being presented to law-makers Monday.
The Show-Me Institute for Policy Research claims that eliminating the tax would stimulate economic growth and keep qualified professionals from leaving the state.
Stephen Moore co-authored the study. He argues that income tax is the worst form of taxation because it holds back economic growth and drives away business.
"There's no Berlin Wall around the State of Missouri," Moore said. "If a college graduate wants to leave or a businessman wants to leave. What our study shows is that a lot of the migration that has happened in this country has been from high income tax states' to no income tax states.'"
Moore claims that capping government spending according to population and inflation would allow the state to phase out income tax without increasing sales and property tax.
Income tax comprises 45% off state tax revenue. Critics claim reducing the budget that much is simply not feasible.
Democratic state senator Joan Bray sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee.
"If there was a public outcry of cutting $250 million out of the state Medicaid program think what eliminating 50 percent of our state generated revenue would do," Bray said. "I mean, there's so much that we couldn't have."