Passing Through Missouri: Left Behind on Taxes?

Missouri’s economic growth is lagging behind the rest of the country. As we wrote in our recent research report, “Cutting The Ties That Bind: End Missouri’s Corporate Income Tax,” Missouri’s economic performance places it squarely in the bottom tier of economic performers compared to other state economies.

To underscore the point, we present three tables, featured on page 2. Table 1 compares Missouri’s growth to the rest of the country in real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) since 1997. Table 2 shows a similar comparison, this time of Missouri’s growth in real GDP per capita relative to the rest of the country. Table 3 is the same analysis using total non-farm employment. The higher the 2011 index, the better a state has performed in a category.

Missouri is among the 10 worst performers in each category. That is a problem. (For more information on how these indices were calculated, see Appendix 1.) If the state does not act to make its business climate more attractive, it should not expect its economic fortunes to improve anytime soon.