| Alternative
Minimum Tax |
|
| We support
repeal of the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). Until the law is
repealed, we support increasing the household income threshold and
deductions allowed, so that capital intensive businesses like farming
are not disadvantaged by the tax. |
|
| Balanced
Federal Budget |
The most important monetary issue of
our day is inflation of the money supply by
the government. The government is engaged in fraud, stealing from
millions, especially from the elderly and
those on fixed incomes. These policies are expressly prohibited in
the Constitution and were underscored by the Framers in the
Federalist Papers.
- Monetary Policy
- Banking and
Money
This monetary issue is actually a spiritual and moral issue. The
root cause of federal debt and budget crises is the desire to get
something for nothing, and the willingness to use government coercion
to redistribute wealth. Special interests (such as the Farm Bureau)
who want federal assistance grudgingly accept the political need to
"compromise" with other special interests and allow other
special interests to get a part of the wealth they want redistributed
to themselves. Thousands of special interests thus compound spending
and deficits.
It must be acknowledged that all government redistribution of
wealth is theft. All of it must be
terminated. |
| For the
economic betterment of all U.S. citizens, we believe the U.S.
government should strive for a balanced federal budget. |
Everyone wants the federal government to
increase spending for their own personal causes, while demanding a
balanced budget by cutting funding for other people's causes. The key
to a balanced budget begins first with eliminating all
unconstitutional spending programs. "We the People" did not
delegate any authority to the federal government to finance education,
and require schools to remove the Ten Commandments. We did not give
the federal government authority to fund "art." |
| We support the
continuation of the Presidential line-item veto power in
appropriations bills. |
|
| We support the
goal of a freeze in total federal spending, including entitlement
programs, at the previous fiscal year's level with the exception of
interest payments on the national debt and natural disasters. All
departments of the government should be examined for budgetary
savings. Spending reductions for Social Security and Medicare should
focus on increased efficiency. |
We must not forget that taxation
is the moral equivalent of theft. |
| We oppose
increasing the federal fuel taxes. |
|
|
We support a constitutional amendment to require a federal balanced
budget.
|
The same Congress that cannot willingly cut
spending will never propose an amendment to do that very thing. |
| We recognize
that the requirement for a balanced budget should be waived in the
event of an all-out war with concurrence of the House of
Representatives, the Senate and the Executive Branch. |
During World War II, Americans had all
other goods and services rationed to support the war effort. This
paragraph seems to indicate a desire to have our cake and eat it too. |
| We favor a
constitutional amendment to restrict the spending authority of the
federal government to a realistic percentage of the gross national
product. |
|
| We support “pay
go” and a two-thirds majority vote rather than three-fifths to
increase spending beyond “pay go.” |
|
| We believe
members of Congress should be prohibited from increasing their
salaries, benefits and/or pensions during deficit budget years. The
formula for calculating the pensions of Congress should be revised by
reducing the entitlements. |
|
| We believe the
determination must be made to pay off the national debt and control
the deficit. |
|
| We believe that
we should do away with automatic "cost of living
adjustments" for jobs in the public sector. |
|
| We believe the
federal budget process should be completely revised to better allow
for long term planning and a more fiscally sound approach to the
spending process. We favor a multi-year budget. |
|
| We
urge Congress to adopt an official definition of "spending
cut" as an actual reduction in dollars spent and "budget
cut" as an actual reduction in dollars budgeted. |
This is tantamount to asking politicians to
be honest. It will never happen. The purpose of most politicians in
both major parties is to keep their party in power by getting votes. |
| Bond Issue |
Most of what follows are state, not federal
issues. |
| We favor
requiring a two-thirds majority for passage of all bond issues,
including school bonds and tax levies. |
|
| We
do not support an increase in bonding capacity above the current
constitutional limit of 15 percent for public schools. |
|
| We oppose the
use of lease/purchase if the school district has reached the limit of
its bonding capacity. |
|
| Drainage and
Levee Taxes |
|
| We believe
everyone who pays drainage and levee taxes should be protected by
levees and have access to the drainage ditch for which the taxes are
paid, and everyone who has access to the drainage ditch should pay
taxes. |
|
| We believe the
drainage and levee districts should be maintained to their original
specifications throughout the system. |
|
| Fuel Tax |
|
| We support
increasing the availability of red-dye diesel fuel and simplifying the
federal and state collection process for agricultural producers. |
|
| We believe that
annual tax filings for the Interstate Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA) fuel
tax be allowed, if quarterly filings would be less than $25.00 owed
quarterly. |
|
| Gift and
Estate Tax |
|
| We support
permanent repeal of federal estate taxes. Until permanent repeal can
be achieved, we believe any estate tax reform should: |
|
a) Maintain
stepped-up basis;
b) Increase and index the exemption for inflation;
c) Allow the transfer of any unused exemption to a surviving spouse;
and
d) Set the top estate tax rate at 15%. |
|
| We oppose any
reduction in the current federal estate tax exemption. Until repeal
becomes politically feasible, we support an increase in the exemption. |
|
| We would prefer
a law that would allow the executor or administrator of estates of
decedents to negotiate the attorney's fees. |
|
| Personal
Property Taxes |
|
| We oppose the
transferring of personal property taxes from farm machinery and
livestock to farmland. |
|
| We strongly
urge that the Missouri Department of Revenue work with the Missouri
legislature to close the many loopholes enabling people to avoid
paying personal property taxes on vehicles, in turn causing farm
people to carry more than their fair share of county property taxes. |
|
| We favor the
elimination of property taxes on all personal property, except
vehicles that require licensing, if the money could be raised in
another way. |
|
| Real
Property Taxes |
|
| We support the
requirement of the State Tax Commission (S.T.C.) to re-evaluate every
two years productivity values for each of the grades of agriculture
land only after careful study and review to assure that any proposed
values truly reflect productive capabilities for each of the eight
classes of agricultural land. |
|
| Given
the state of the economy, market volatility and difficult financial
circumstances faced by many farm families, we believe productivity
values used in assessing property taxes on farmland have decreased, or
at best, remained unchanged. Therefore, we urge the State Tax
Commission not to set higher farmland productivity values this year. |
|
| We believe all
grades of agricultural/horticultural land should be classified based
on the USDA soil productivity index. Once a productivity index is
established on a piece of agricultural/horticultural land,
consideration for limiting factors that would hinder the soil's
ability to produce at its productivity index level should be given.
After all limiting factors are considered, the soil grade should be
adjusted accordingly to reflect actual productivity. In no case should
agricultural/horticultural land be valued based on subjective or fair
market values or any other conceivable reason. |
|
| We believe the
role of the State Tax Commission should be limited to the
establishment of equitable tax rates throughout the state. Final
approval of agricultural productivity use values for land should
remain with the state legislature. The establishment of local property
values should remain in the hands of the county tax assessor. |
|
| We urge the
State Tax Commission to give more weight to the decisions of local
elected assessors when reviewing property tax appeals by multinational
corporations. |
|
| We believe
"site value" or "incentive" taxation, which places
a lighter burden on improvements but a heavier burden on land, should
be restricted to urban areas. |
|
| We believe
property owners are paying their fair share of taxes. If additional
tax revenues are required, we believe they should come in the form of
additional sales taxes, which would be more equitable for all
citizens. |
|
| To allow
farmers the opportunity for appeal, we support requiring assessors to
notify farmers if their land classification changes, moving them to a
class of higher value for property tax assessment purposes and
notifying farmers of the number of acres of each class listed on
annual tax bill. |
|
| We support
requiring new soil tests or a changing of productivity values before
an assessor can change the classification of agricultural property. |
|
| We favor
requiring municipalities and city-owned utilities to continue to pay
property taxes on all real estate they acquire. |
|
| We favor a
reduction or repeal of property taxes, including a partial homestead
exemption for homeowners to be based on a portion of any excess total
state revenues in the previous fiscal year. |
|
| We support requiring state and federal agencies to make
payments to all county taxing entities, including levee and drainage
districts, in lieu of taxes on land owned by the agency with payments
adjusted in accordance with tax assessments on comparable privately
owned lands in the county. |
|
| Sales Tax |
|
| We oppose
repeal of the sales tax exemption on farm machinery, repair parts,
feed additives, fuels, veterinary supplies, farm and ranch fencing
supplies, grain storage and drying units, underground terrace tile
outlets and drain tile, and other agriculture products and services. |
|
| We believe the
present collection and allocation of sales tax in Missouri is very
unfair to rural counties. We support a more equitable means of
allocation of sales tax monies between the urban areas and the
surrounding rural counties to help provide needed services in the
rural areas. |
|
| We favor the
exemption of agricultural or horticultural products sold at seasonal
farmers' markets and roadside stands from the state sales tax. |
|
| We oppose
adding a sales tax to gasoline. |
|
| We favor state
and local sales tax exemption for lease or rent of land for hunting
purposes. This should include, but not be limited to, farms, ranches,
hunting preserves, licensed shooting areas and game farms. |
|
| We oppose any
form of severance tax on natural resources. |
|
| We oppose any
legislation which would establish a transfer tax, sales tax or any
other tax on the purchase, sale or exchange of real estate. |
|
| We further
oppose any legislation requiring the reporting of real estate sale
price to any state or county agency or official. |
|
| State
Indebtedness |
|
| We are
concerned about the rising debt in Missouri due to an increasing
dependence on state issued bonds. We believe we must adopt more of a
"pay as we go" policy in Missouri. We believe revenue bonds
should be used only when there is a clear and identified revenue
source sufficient to pay the principal and interest of the bonds. |
|
| Tax
Limitation |
|
| We believe that
any major state tax, fee or other revenue increase should be submitted
to the voters for their approval. A major increase in new state
revenues is defined as an annual increase in total state revenues of
more than 1%. |
|
| If any of the
constitutional tax limitation provisions approved by the voters in
1980 and 1996 are determined to be unconstitutional by the courts,
then we believe the state legislature should immediately act to
rectify such provisions so as to maintain the integrity of the state
tax limitation in the constitution that has such strong support among
Missourians. |
|
| We urge the
Governor and legislative leaders to establish a reporting system to
track compliance with the tax limitation provisions, including tax and
fee increases in legislation approved by the General Assembly. |
|
| We oppose any
proposal to allow the spending of excess state revenue instead of
refunding as required by the state constitution. |
|
| We believe
funds provided to Missouri under the tobacco industry settlement
should be: |
|
| 1.
Treated as General Revenue funds; |
|
| 2. Appropriated
annually by the legislature; and |
|
| 3. Subject to
constitutional tax limitations. |
|
| Therefore, we
support legislative and, if necessary, legal efforts to ensure the
proper treatment of the tobacco funds. Conversely, we oppose efforts
to treat the tobacco funds in a manner that circumvents the
constitutional tax limitations and the legislative process. By no
means should the tobacco funds be providing funds to programs without
subjecting those programs to the annual appropriations process. |
|
| In the event
the tobacco settlement proceeds are not returned to voters under state
tax limitation guidelines, we believe that for a period of five years,
five percent of the phase one tobacco settlement funds should be
allocated for rural economic development and economic assistance for
active tobacco producers and a committee that includes tobacco
producers be formed to make recommendations for such expenditures. |
|
| Tax Reform |
|
| Tax policy
should be designed to encourage private initiative, economic growth,
equity and simplicity. We support: |
|
| 1. Income
averaging; |
|
| 2.
Reinstatement of investment tax credits; |
|
| 3. Annual
expensing of preproduction expenditures; |
|
| 4. Eliminating
taxes on capital gains and until that occurs, providing exemptions for
the transfer of agricultural land that will remain in agricultural
production; |
|
| 5. Farm and
Ranch Risk Management (FARRM) Accounts; |
|
| 6. Elimination
of the federal marriage penalty; and |
|
| 7. Elimination
of self-employment taxes on Conservation Reserve Program payments. |
|
| We
oppose any tax on e-mail. |
What began as an urban
legend is now being taken
seriously by politicians. |
| We oppose a
federal flat tax on income if that proposal includes expensing of real
estate and/or machinery purchases, and excludes business interest
payments as a deductible business expense. |
|
| We support the
concept of the FairTax and its passage. |
The FairTax
should not be implemented without the abolition of the Income Tax. |
| We support
Missouri Farm Bureau developing more information on the concept of a
consumption tax replacing our current state income tax system. |
|
| We support any
effort to make the Internal Revenue Service more responsive to
taxpayers. |
The IRS should be abolished. |
| We believe
legislation should be enacted to prevent the Internal Revenue Service
from seizing or placing a lien on personal and business property as
well as on assets of an individual or business without proof of tax
indebtedness. |
|
| We recommend if
a court case is decided in favor of the taxpayers the Internal Revenue
Service should be responsible for court costs and legal fees. |
|
| We believe tax
credits and incentives should be provided to farmers who invest in new
agricultural technology and capital improvements to modernize their
farming operations. |
|
| We support
legislation which would allow individuals 59½ or older to contribute
amounts currently held in IRA accounts directly to qualified charities
without having to first recognize the income for tax purposes. |
|