Paying for the Privilege . . . to Stay in Bridgeton
After staying overnight in Jefferson City last week, I awoke to find my hotel bill laying on the floor in...
Finally Some Agreement: Get Corporations Off the Dole
These days it seems like our political discourse has become more polarized. However, there are some issues we all can...
Schools and Libraries Should Get a Piece of the Action
Localities engaged in a tax subsidy bender shouldn’t be surprised if they wake up with a nasty hangover in the...
Show-Me Study Featured in New Book
Tax subsidies for economic development were designed to go to poor areas that actually needed development. But that is not...
Riding to the Hounds of Corporate Welfare
Oscar Wilde famously defined foxhunting as “the unspeakable in full pursuit of the uneatable.” His quip aptly describes a sport...
Light Rail Never Sleeps: The Saint Louis Edition
Recently, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that St. Louis Metro would receive a TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery)...
Show-Me Now! Is Kansas City Addicted to Corporate Welfare?
Tax Increment Financing and similar tax subsidies are intended to improve areas that are blighted, but is that what they’re...
That Burns & McDonnell TIF And Vandalism
Earlier this year, the Kansas City Council voted to use tax dollars to subsidize a project for Burns & McDonnell,...
Nix The NIDs
A variety of innocuous-sounding names and acronyms are springing up like weeds in communities all over Missouri. They are a...
Show-Me Minutes
Listen to these minute-long audios from the Show-Me Institute about free-market ideas: Accounting: Missouri is behind in funding its public...
Burns and Mac Does Not Ask For Moon: NASA Calls Them ‘Responsible Corporate Citizen’
One theme being bandied about regarding Burns and McDonnell’s request for tax subsidies is that company officials did not ask...
Corporate Welfare Defense: ‘We Could Have Taken More’
Burns & McDonnell, a successful top-20 engineering firm based in Kansas City, is poor. So poor, that in order to...
Going Too Far To Limit Voter Input
There are at least two efforts in the Missouri General Assembly to prevent the ability of local voters to restrict...
Diverting City Tax Dollars To Subsidize The Loop Trolley
Earlier this week, a U.S. District Court dismissed a lawsuit against the Loop Trolley Transportation Development District (TDD), clearing the...
‘Tis Time For TIF Reform
That title would make a pretty good protest chant, if you ask me. Although the use of “‘Tis” to help...
Cape Girardeau Should Think Twice Before Establishing CID
As first appearing in the Southeast Missourian: Over the past two decades, Missouri has seen an explosion of new, alphabet...
Clayton Seeks Four-Leaf Clover Of Tax Increases
As first appearing in the St. Louis Business Journal: Like a mischievous Leprechaun sporting a four-leaf clover, the city of...
Bloodletting In Clayton
For centuries until approximately 200 years ago, bloodletting was a common treatment for illness. If you were sick, you would...
Yes, Kansas City Government Uses Airport Funds
Some members of the Kansas City mayor’s airport advisory group spent the end of their Feb. 11 meeting hand-wringing about...
Columbia Says No To A TIF
There was very big news out of Columbia, Mo., Monday night. The Columbia City Council shot down a large Tax...
