by State Sen. Brad Lager
This website brought to you in part by the following sponsor:
Find out how to advertise here - Email us! [email protected]
As taxpayers and citizens, we are fortunate that our state government has a constitutional requirement to balance its budget. Each year, many decisions are made as the annual appropriations process unfolds. In recent years, the General Assembly has made the fiscally responsible decisions necessary to bring spending in line with declining state revenues.
While I am proud that we have reduced waste and improved efficiency, I believe we must now proceed with a common sense approach so that we do not have detrimental impacts to education, transportation, and other essential public services.
The severity of our budget situation underscores the harsh reality of Missouri’s dragging economy. While reducing government spending is imperative, we must also take action to help grow our economy. We do not need more taxes – we need more taxpayers. By creating an environment that allows Missouri’s businesses to grow and prosper, we will increase the economic opportunities for all Missouri citizens.
Every level of government impacts our economy through litigation, regulation and taxation. Unfortunately, through the work of activist judges, the legal climate for employers in our state is considered to be the worst in the nation. As you would expect, this is detrimental to retaining and attracting new employers. We must reverse this trend and bring Missouri law back in line with federal law so that our employers and employees are on a level playing field with neighboring states.
While it is important to eliminate waste and be more efficient with the taxpayer’s dollars, the root causes of our financial challenges have been ignored for far too long. The actions required to grow our economy cannot happen overnight and they will not happen without changing the status quo. Through hard work and dedication we can reverse the public policy plaguing our economy and position ourselves for long term economic prosperity.
As always, please feel free to call, email, or write with your ideas or concerns. The Capitol number is (573) 751-1415, my email is [email protected] and my mailing address is Room 422, State Capitol Building, Jefferson City, MO 65101.