Gary Voss has run the West County Lanes in Ellisville for almost three decades.  He’s never been given a tax subsidy, and he doesn’t think the Sansone Developers or Walmart should either.

Newly elected Mayor Adam Paul is against giving a TIF for a new Walmart near the intersection of Clarkson and Manchester. The Ellisville City Council has given preliminary approval for the TIF, but Paul thinks public opinion may still prevail.

The Ellisville City Council has given preliminary approval to a TIF for a new Walmart near the intersection of Clarkson and Manchester. The final vote is scheduled for May 2nd. Residents like Liz Schmidt are baffled by the council’s move. In her opinion, residents have already made their feelings clear about the TIF.

The Ellisville city council has given preliminary approval for a TIF to fund development of a Walmart at the corner of Clarkson and Manchester. That vote overrides the county TIF commission, and apparently, the will of a majority of Ellisville residents. David Stokes takes a look.

Should a private country club, even one with a rich golf history, be subsidized by taxpayers?  Show-Me Institute Policy Researcher Michael Rathbone takes a look at Norwood Hills Country Club in Saint Louis County.

In Saint Louis County, the TIF council recently rejected a TIF proposal from an Ellisville Walmart, but now the City of Ellisville is attempting to approve the subsidy proposal anyway.

As David Stokes briefly mentions in this vlog, the sales tax status of Ellisville in Saint Louis County encourages this kind of tax-incentive competition.

On November 10, 2011, Show-Me Institute Policy Analyst Audrey Spalding was a guest on the local KETC roundtable discussion show Donnybrook. Many topics were covered, including how and why the Occupy Saint Louis website recently cited Show-Me Institute research.

Click here to watch the video of the event.

The Senate has adjourned: What does this mean for Aerotropolis tax credits?

In this video, Show-Me Institute Policy Analyst Patrick Ishmael discusses the victory for Missouri residents represented by the defeat of Aerotropolis, and also what is needed from Missouri legislators going forward.

On Tuesday, October 4, the Show-Me Institute hosted a panel discussion to detail the history and future of the Aerotropolis tax credit bill moving through the Missouri Legislature. On hand to answer questions and explain their viewpoint were Missouri Senator John Lamping and Show-Me Institute Policy Analyst Audrey Spalding.

Why is it so difficult for politicians to say "no" to bad public policy? In this video, Show-Me Institute Policy Analyst Audrey Spalding recaps the problems with tax credits as an instrument for economic growth and wonders why politicians can't simply abandon public policy tools with such a poor track record.

In this video, Show-Me Institute Policy Analyst Audrey Spalding describes how even though the $ 360 million Aerotropolis tax credit package has been trimmed by $ 300 million, that same funding for warehouse development may ultimately come about anyway from other, existing tax credit programs.

In this video, SLU Professor Douglas Rush talks about an op-ed he wrote for the St. Louis-Post Dispatch that critized creating $360 million in tax credits. Rush explains that he thinks tax credits for building warehouses could come at the expense of state funding for higher education. Furthermore, he says he thinks that higher education is a better investment than construction subsidies.

If two warehouses would satisfy the projected demand for exports, what's the $300 million in tax credits for? In this video, Show-Me Institute Policy Analyst Audrey Spalding discusses recently released documents from the Midwest China Hub Commission which contain expert findings suggesting that existing warehouse space around Lambert Airport would satisfy increased international air cargo demand.

In this video, Show-Me Institute policy analyst Audrey Spalding tells of a little-mentioned portion of the proposed Aerotropolis legislation. This provision would grant new authority to the mayor of Saint Louis and the Saint Louis County Executive, allowing them to dictate who could receive Aerotropolis tax credits — which amount to over $300 million dollars of potential development subsidy.

In this video, Show-Me Institute policy analyst Patrick Ishmael tackles another aspect of the proposed Aerotropolis bill: it may be possible for a company doing no exporting and no shipping by air to receive Aerotropolis tax credits.

In this video, Show-Me Institute policy analyst Patrick Ishmael explains how, despite the claims of Aerotropolis proponents, Missouri beef can not be exported to China because of current Department of Agriculture regulations.

The city of Saint Louis just declared as "blighted" the plot of land on which the eye-catching South Grand Del Taco resides. The business still runs 24/7 and gets customers, even in spite of the nearby bridge closing. Why would the city blight an intact and functioning business? Show-Me Institute Policy Analyst Audrey Spalding has an answer.

Show-Me Institute policy analyst Audrey Spalding gives her impressions on the "Aerotropolis" study.

On April 20, 2011, the Missouri Senate Jobs, Economic Development and Local Government Committee heard testimony from the public about the proposed "Aerotropolis" subsidy bill. Show-Me Institute policy analysts Audrey Spalding and Christine Harbin were on hand to deliver their own impressions of the problems with the proposed legislation. They were, in fact, the lone opposing witnesses that day. Q&A with the state senators followed each policy analyst's remarks. Read their full testimony here. For a transcript of the Q&A, click here.

In this talk, given in Columbia on Feb. 7, 2011, columnist Bob Roper makes the case that the increased influence of the tea party on federal elections represents a major shift of power and influence away from the traditional Republican Party, and that the effects will be long-lasting. Moreover, Roper sees the increased influence of the Republican Party and decreased influence of the Democratic Party as a result of the 2010 election as an important signal to both the politicians and the electorate. An in-depth Q&A session follows the talk.