Dear Editor:
Does anyone else wonder why Missouri lawmakers can't seem to give away enough of our money when it comes to "bringing jobs to Missouri," but they refuse to reduce taxes on businesses that have been in Missouri for years? The $1.7 billion bribe being offered to Boeing amounts to $10,875 per job per year, if spread it out over 8,000 employees and 20 years.
If RR Donnelley had been offered $5.1 million per year to stay in Missouri ($10,875 x 473 employees) I wonder if they would still be here.
Why is it that Gov. Nixon is against reducing the tax burden on businesses that are already here while at the same time he is willing to pay obscene amounts to get a business to locate here?
Gov. Nixon tells us that we taxpayers will gain more in tax revenues then the cost of these jobs. I doubt that those 8,000 workers will be spending their money in Cole County nor will they be paying taxes here, yet we, individuals and local businesses, will be forced to subsidize those jobs.
Why is it that when the government steals a dollar from my wallet and spends it, they tout all the jobs they have created, what about the jobs "lost" because I was not able to spend my dollar on what I wanted.
The following is yet another "I'm from the government and I'm here to help" story. On Dec. 1., the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran an article praising the Churches on the Streets ministry. On Monday evenings members set up at rail yard and provide home-cooked meals to the homeless. On Dec. 2, city health department officials shut them down because they didn't have a permit.
City health director Pam Walker said, "If I want to cook and poison my own family and friends that's OK, but when you're open to the public that's implying a certain standard of safety."
Government appears to think that eating out of a dumpster is less dangerous than eating a home-cooked meal.