Taxes.
That's a major discussion topic each year at Missouri's Capitol, with some arguing our current tax system needs to be tweaked, others saying it needs to be overhauled, and still others pushing to scrap it all together.
So the Missouri Association of Social Welfare's (MASW) Central Missouri Chapter is hosting a panel discussion about the issues at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, in Lincoln University's Inman E. Page Library.
They're calling the discussion "A Tale of Two Tax Plans."
"The unusual thing about this event is that we bring together traditional opponents on one panel," said former state Rep. Jeanette Mott Oxford, D-St. Louis, and MASW's current director. "We want area residents to know this event is happening and come out to join the discussion. There will be Q & A with the audience.
"It is not a debate, but the panelists will be allowed to question and dialogue each other, after initial statements."
The panelists include:
• Rep. T.J. Berry, R-Kearney, whose bill proposing business tax cuts passed the House Thursday on a 106-49 party line vote, and next will be considered by the state Senate. Berry also sponsored last year's broader tax cuts bill that passed the Legislature but was vetoed by Gov. Jay Nixon. During the Sept. 11, 2013, veto session, the House fell short of the 109 votes needed to override Nixon's veto, so the Senate never got to vote on the override attempt.
• Ray McCarty, president and CEO of Associated Industries of Missouri (AIM), which actively supports tax cuts plans, including Berry's bill.
• Rep. Judy Morgan, D-Kansas City, who plans to file a "progressive income tax reform" plan this coming week and expects to have "a record number of co-sponsors."
While many don't think a bill sponsored by a Democrat has much chance of passing in a Republican-controlled Legislature, Mott Oxford said, it is "definitely worth talking about."
• Mott Oxford, who became MASW's director last year, after serving eight years in the House, representing a portion of South St. Louis city.
"I will join Rep. Morgan in discussing why I think (her) bill is better for our state and better for Missourians' pocketbooks," Mott Oxford said in an e-mail. "I will argue that even the 40 percent of Missourians who would, on average, pay higher state income taxes under (her) bill would benefit from it - and 60 percent would, on average, experience a tax reduction from her plan."
An MASW flier about the event urges Mid-Missourians to "come learn about two very different tax proposals and how their proponents believe they would change household budgets and state budgets."
Light refreshments will be served.
And there's no admission charge.