HOLTS SUMMIT - If elected governor, Catherine Hanaway has a five-point plan for improving the state's economy and jobs picture.
"Since 1997, we've had the fourth worst economy in the country," Hanaway said Thursday in Holts Summit. "Our citizens here in Missouri are 41st in household income among the states.
"As governor, I want to not only bring jobs back but bring quality jobs back to Missouri."
Hanaway, former Missouri House speaker and U.S. attorney, said her plan includes:
Reducing income taxes - now capped at 6 percent - and modernizing the tax system.
"Most of the states we compete with have a lower income tax rate," she said, noting Missouri's tax code is "too complicated. There are too many tax credits for big corporations that aren't available to small businesses (and) to individual Missourians."
Hanaway proposes a gradual cut in the taxes imposed, making sure "that you have replacement for the spending that you want to continue to do and the strategic investments you want to make in things like schools and transportation. But you also need to find where you can cut and reduce the amount of spending."
Even though lawmakers a couple years ago approved a gradual tax cut over the next decade, triggered each year the state's revenues grow by at least $150 million, Hanaway said: "I think we should go further than that. It's Exhibit A of what's wrong with our tax code system right now, that those tax cuts didn't kick into place."
Implementing right-to-work, where union membership and union fees can't be a requirement for anyone to get or hold a job.
"The evidence is clear that right-to-work is good for workers," Hanaway said. "Wages go up faster in those states (and) there are more jobs to be had.
"Average household income is higher, and in the Midwest, more of those employers actually provide health insurance."
She said many site-selection professionals tell her most manufacturers won't locate in a state without right-to-work.
Reducing the regulatory burden.
"It lands most heavily on the Missourians who are in small businesses," Hanaway said, citing an example how Missouri barbers must comply with a regulation of more than 10,000 words.
"I really think we can tell barbers how many combs to have in fewer words than it takes to describe Armageddon," she said after noting the regulation is as long as the Book of Revelation in the Bible.
Establishing serious, meaningful tort reform and changing the judicial appointments process so more "conservative" judges are on the bench, she said, "to reduce the number of frivolous lawsuits in this state."
Making sure the workforce is "prepared for the jobs that exist" - especially skilled workers in health care and computer technology - by refocusing state efforts on technical and vocational education.
"These are jobs with benefits (that) pay enough to raise a family on," she said.
"We need to make sure that the young people who are joining the workforce are prepared for the jobs that exist."
Her comments came in a meeting room at Pro Food Systems, which she later toured and called "a great example of a business that's been grown here in Missouri, stays here in Missouri and provides the opportunity for lots of Missourians to have good, quality jobs."