South KC Perspective: Amendment 5 discussed, fireworks in Grandview

Top spokesmen for proposed Missouri Constitutional Amendment 5 spoke at a June 15 town hall meeting in Grandview organized by supporters. If passed, Amendment 5 would phase out our state’s individual income tax and authorize the Missouri General Assembly to replace the lost revenue by increasing state sales and use tax rates and applying these taxes to a much broader array of goods and services. As the meeting went on, sign-carrying area residents demonstrated strong opposition to the proposal outside.

State Rep. Bishop Davidson, a Republican from the Springfield area and a main sponsor of the measure to phase out individual income taxes, said eliminating individual income taxes “…is the biggest single thing we can do for our economy.” The tax currently brings in about 64% of the state government’s general revenue according to the amendment’s supporters.

Literature passed out at the meeting by Dennis Ganahl, founder and treasurer of MO Tax Relief Now, said nine other states don’t have an income tax. The literature also made the dubious claim that unnamed economists estimate a Missouri wage-earner making $60,000 annually could save approximately $2,600 more a year if individual income taxes were eliminated and replaced by higher sales and use taxes on other goods and services.

Both speakers also said travelers and tourists to Missouri would contribute more money to the state government through higher sales and use taxes, thus lessening the tax burden on state residents.

However, a very broad spectrum of social service agencies, civic organizations and Democratic and progressive political organizations have voiced their strong opposition to Amendment 5 for shifting a major portion of the state’s tax burden from wealthy Missourians to middle-class, working class and economically struggling Missourians.

Not a single Democrat in either branch of the General Assembly voted to submit the constitutional amendment, which would drastically restructure the state’s tax burden to make it more regressive, to Missouri voters on the August 4 primary election.

Grandview legalizes fireworks, with caveats

Discharging limited types of fireworks in the city of Grandview for limited hours on July 3 and 4 is now legal due to an ordinance approved by the city’s Board of Aldermen.

No display fireworks that are shot into the sky or explode in the sky, such as bottle rockets and roman candles are allowed under the ordinance according to Grandview Communications Director Valarie Poindexter, but firecrackers, fountains and sparklers are allowed to be discharged from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. July 3 and from 10 a.m. to midnight July 4.

Fireworks are not allowed to be discharged on any public property in Grandview such as parks, and also are not legal to fire from any motor vehicle or at any living creature or structure. State Fire Marshal Tim Bean has warned Missourians to keep young children away from fireworks, to have a garden hose or bucket of water nearby when discharging them, to never discharge them near flammable materials, and to never shoot fireworks from a glass jar or container.

According to data collected by the state, 358 people sought hospital care due to injuries suffered from fireworks last year.