Public Dollars, Private Schools
In this Columbia, MO Forum, Show-Me Institute Education Policy Analyst James Shuls spoke to an enthusiastic crowd about what private...
Nota Bene: Historic Preservation Tax Credit ‘Consultant’ Supports Historic Preservation Tax Credit
Today, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch published a commentary by Stephen Acree, president and CEO of the Regional Housing and Community...
New Strategy On TIF Reform In Missouri
Last week, I testified in favor of Missouri House Bill 914 in Jefferson City. This latest attempt at Tax Increment...
NorthSide Receives State’s Largest TIF
The Missouri Supreme Court enabled Saint Louis City to award a staggering $390 million TIF (Tax Increment Financing) package to...
Is Head Start ‘Worth Every Penny’?
In light of a recent federal study, which concluded that the Head Start program does not have lasting benefits, there have...
Get Off The Train: Saint Louis Cannot Ride To Economic Growth
Articles written about why we must invest in transit in Saint Louis often say young people want to live in...
Two Thumbs Down on the So-Called ‘Arch Tax’
Voters in Saint Louis City and County will go to the polls on Tuesday, April 2 to decide the fate...
TIF Is The Arch-Enemy
On Tuesday, people in both Saint Louis City and County will vote on an increased parks sales tax to support...
Part Three: The Smallness Of The Potentially ‘Hip’ Core
Last week, Kevin McDermott of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch‘s Political Fix blog wrote briefly about the “hip development” debate we...
Part One: The Smallness Of The Potentially ‘Hip’ Core
Just the other day, The Daily Beast published an outstanding piece on redevelopment trends in our urban communities. Joel Kotkin, a...
Missouri Cities Should Open The Books
How can Saint Louis catch up to Kansas City? Increasing transparency in government spending would be a good start. The...
Want to Help Science Start-ups? Cut Their Taxes. While We’re At It, Cut Everyone’s.
Last year, I wrote about a Missouri circuit court’s finding that the Missouri Science and Innovation Reinvestment Act (MOSIRA) —...
This Land Is My Land
Where I grew up, private neighborhood streets were rare. None of my friends lived on gated streets, and city plows...
Saint Louis Earnings Tax Is Bad for Our Health – But Do We Care?
Listen online here: Call it “the smoker’s dilemma”: Everyone knows that smoking kills, but a habitual smoker may be convinced...
Ray County Does Not Need Enhanced Enterprise Zones
Let the citizens of Ray County beware: You may think that a nice little sprinkling of government subsidies — done...
Charter Schools Are Giving Families Options
When my wife and I found out we were having a baby, we began looking for pediatricians. We wanted the...
Property Tax Exemptions Are Too Easy To Get In Missouri
Would you be surprised if I told you that there is no clear rule about what qualifies for property tax...
Fumbling Away Your Money?
Are the Rams on their way out of St. Louis? A recent decision by arbitrators could have a serious impact...
Rush To Rails Harms Bus Transit
A week has not even gone by since we observed in this space that light rail is a bad idea...
Stokes on KWMU – TIF Hurts Communities
Shrewsbury is the latest city within Saint Louis County to consider Tax Increment Financing (known as TIFs) to subsidize a...
