Tonight’s late news will probably show lines of procrastinators dropping off their tax returns at the main downtown Post Office. I bet they’ll talk to a few, and, at least one will say, ”I owe money, so I wanted to wait as long as I could.”
Meanwhile, in the Missouri Capitol, the Republican supermajority and their accidental governor wait impatiently to learn how much of their budget hole has been filled by 2018 tax returns.
Even back in Roman times, the government levied taxes to pay its bills. No one liked taxes, to the point where the religious establishment declared tax collectors “unclean” and did not allow them to testify in court!
Today Americans, including Missourians, don’t like taxes yet we follow the law and better than 95% of those of us who should file tax returns.
And, despite all those ads on AM radio, not paying taxes doesn’t make them go away nor does it cause the authorities to accept pennies on the dollar – unless one declares bankruptcy and liquidates most all of what they own and meets five specific criteria: one being that no tax evasion has taken place.
This Fiscal Year, as I’ve discussed before, Missouri state revenue has tracked considerably below what the government projected – and needs. In recent weeks Republicans expressed optimism that the flood of tax returns this week will include many, many payments. Here’s what the dean of the Jefferson City press horde, News Tribune reporter Bob Watson, learned from Department of Revenue officials…
As politicians worry about Missouri taxpayers facing larger-than-expected tax bills — and point fingers at other politicians about who’s to blame — the state Revenue Department said Friday that early returns show taxpayers overall are owing less. — News Tribune- April 14th, 2019
Uh-oh…
Let’s look back at April 2018. That wasn’t a great revenue year but by the end of that month Missourians had paid $6.41 billion in income taxes – against $1.15 billion in refunds. To meet the current budget, the state needs the April 2019 General Revenue Year To Date report to show about $6.54 billion in individual incomes taxes (with less than $1.15 billion Year To Date in refunds). At the end of March Income Tax collections were at $4.97 billion, meaning the state must collect $1.57 billion this month – with the biggest chunk coming in this week. [ https://oa.mo.gov/commissioners-office/news/state-releases-april-2018-general-revenue-report & https://themissouritimes.com/58990/state-releases-march-2019-general-revenue-report/ ]
Returns show taxpayers overall owing less
Also happening this week: the Missouri Senate dives deep into the Fiscal Year 2020 budget. The budget sent them by the Missouri House of Representatives assumes significant income growth. That no longer seems possible. Since the state ought to have a balanced budget, well, expect the Senate to break out the red pens. If they don’t, the accidental governor will be forced to slash spending on education, health care and all the other things government does.
The reckoning is at hand.
Glenn