This week, legislators are back in Jefferson City for a special session to discuss and pass Gov. Mike Parson’s historic income tax cut proposal. 

Under the governor’s plan, the tax cut would lower the state’s top individual income tax rate from 5.3 percent to 4.8 percent, and eliminate the bottom income tax bracket entirely. Additionally, every Missourian will earn their first $16,000 tax free, and married joint filers will earn their first $32,000 tax free, resulting in significant savings for millions of Missourians.

If there was ever a time to pass a tax cut, now would be the time to do it. Not only do Republicans have the votes, but Missouri also has more money on hand than ever before and is experiencing a record surplus in revenue. Missouri ended the 2022 fiscal year with a revenue balance of almost $4.9 billion, more than double last year’s balance, which was also a record setting amount. 

Additionally, Missourians are in a particularly bad financial spot thanks to President Joe Biden’s federal policies. Biden and the D.C. Democrats have continued to spend trillions of dollars resulting in record inflation, high gas and energy prices, increasing grocery bills, and after the recent passage of the “Inflation Reduction Act,” Missourians’ federal taxes are about to increase as well. 

All of this will eventually result in long-term hardship as Missourians begin to feel the current high cost of living affect their future savings and big purchases such as cars, higher education and mortgage payments. Gov. Parson’s proposed tax cuts will not just provide much welcomed immediate temporary relief in this Biden economy, but will also provide permanent relief. 

But of course, there are naysayers.

Some have pushed back against the governor’s tax cut proposal saying it will result in the failure of the 2012 Kansas tax cuts which then Gov. Sam Brownback signed into law. The aftermath of which were large state budget cuts, significant sales tax increases, and the resulting troubles ushered in a state-wide, Democratic wave.

But Missouri is not following in the footsteps of Kansas. For one, the reduced income tax rate Gov. Parson is proposing is not as large as the one passed in Kansas. Also unlike Kansas, the governor’s plan does not call for the complete elimination of the tax on “pass through” businesses, which accounts for a hefty sum. The Kansas tax cuts have been considered to be too much at one time, too much too fast. In contrast, the tax cut proposal for Missourians is simple, straightforward, and does not try to take on more than the state can actually handle. 

With this tax cut proposal, the governor and the Missouri legislature are putting into practice the Republican ideals of lower taxes, and individual responsibility and freedom for everyone. This tax cut will be for every Missourian, no matter their background, income or job description.

This is the ideal time to pass a state tax cut. Missourians deserve to keep more of their own hard-earned money.