Gov. Eric Greitens called for more tax cuts and discussed the importance of the efforts to cut unnecessary regulation in the state of Missouri.
While the speech called for tax cuts, Greitens said the specifics would come next week. He said the cut would be “a detailed, thoughtful, and thorough plan to cut taxes on the hardest-working families in our state. It is the boldest state tax reform in America.”
A state income tax cut enacted in 2014 took effect Jan. 1 after state revenue grew enough in fiscal 2017 to trigger it. The top tax rate decreases to 5.9 percent, people with incomes below $20,000 will have $500 more of their income exempt from taxes and business owners will not pay taxes on 5 percent of their profits. The federal tax cut enacted in December will also lower state taxes for many residents because Missouri uses the same standard deduction available on the federal return.
In the speech, Greitens said the state has become more business-friendly under his administration, with unemployment at the lowest rate in 17 years and more manufacturing jobs. He stated the reduction of the regulatory burden would continue to make it easier to do business here.
There were 7,000 regulations and 112,000 regulatory requirements on the books when he took office, Greitens said. Several of these regulations were outdated.
“Because of this, we launched the most aggressive, most thorough, most ambitious effort to roll back unnecessary regulations in the United States,” Greitens said. “By taking a strong, thoughtful, conservative approach to government, we can tell you tonight that we are taking nearly one out of every three regulatory requirements in the state of Missouri — that’s 33,000 regulatory requirements — off the books for good.”
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