Local Government
Cranky Yellow Quaffs Bitter Bureaucracy
[This post was originally written for my employer’s blog, Show-Me Daily.] Ever seen the movie Brazil? When the main character wants his A/C fixed, the opaque and monolithic government forces him to jump through one bureaucratic hoop after another, and he’s not sure that his simple problem will ever get fixed. Then a vigilante HVAC … Continue reading
The Earnings Tax Is Still Bad, for All the Reasons We’ve Already Said
[This post was originally written for my employer’s blog, Show-Me Daily.] The Kansas City Star‘s website has a piece today by two Saint Louis University professors arguing against the repeal of the earnings taxes in St. Louis and Kansas City. The bulk of their commentary is intended to be a criticism of this 2006 study … Continue reading
David Stokes on the News
[This post was originally written for my employer’s blog, Show-Me Daily.] I didn’t catch David Stokes on Fox 2 last night in St Louis, but fortunately the clip is online. Dave was interviewed regarding the Internet furor about plans by the city of St. Louis to apply its 1-percent earnings tax to players in the … Continue reading
A Taxing Dilemma
[This post was originally written for my employer’s blog, Show-Me Daily.] Caitlin Hartsell’s recent blog entry discusses another recent news piece, this one in the Springfield News-Leader, about that lawyer who is suing small Missouri towns that he holds to be charging illegally high sales taxes. I already talked about this in terms of theory, … Continue reading
Local Tax: Ups and Downs
[This post was originally written for my employer’s blog, Show-Me Daily.] There’s an article in the Columbia Daily Tribune today that discusses the latest flap in Jefferson City about a sales tax issue (link via Combest). The article deals with some general perverse incentives, and is an interesting study in public choice theory, but the … Continue reading
Honey, I Shrunk the Legislature
[This post was originally written for my employer’s blog, Show-Me Daily.] A very encouraging post on the Freakonomics blog today mentions that the Maine state legislature recently proposed a bill that would unify the state’s Senate and House into one representative body, making Maine the second state in the union to go unicameral. Unfortunately, the … Continue reading
The Heart of Government
[This post was originally written for my employer’s blog, Show-Me Daily.] David Stokes and I just attended the weekly Board of Aldermen meeting for St. Louis city. It was actually quite enjoyable. For one thing, David’s extensive personal experience with local government made him a great resource and a wealth of information. He had a … Continue reading
In Defense of St. Louis
[This post was originally written for my employer’s blog, Show-Me Daily.] When I checked out the Post-Dispatch‘s website today, I fully expected the top stories to include President Barack Obama’s visit yesterday. Nope. Instead, I find a story about Brewster McCracken. an Austin, Texas, mayoral candidate, whose ad (available on YouTube) positively slams the city of St. Louis … Continue reading
The Gun Buyback May Not Come Back
[This post was originally written for my employer’s blog, Show-Me Daily.] An article from the Post-Dispatch tells us that, despite a request from the police chief to repeat last year’s gun buyback, the Board of Police Commissioners failed to approve funding for the program. The matter failed on a 2-2 tie vote, with the mayor … Continue reading
Shout Out to Mr. Tiebout
[This post was originally written for my employer’s blog, Show-Me Daily.] According to a Post-Dispatch article the city of Joplin will no longer allow teachers in its public schools to show any visible tattoos. Now, at first blush, this seems like an infringement on liberty, and perhaps it is. But it may also be a … Continue reading