by Michael R. Allen
Tim Logan at the Post-Dispatch reports that Governor Jay Nixon (Democrat) is ready to put tax credit programs under the budget axe. That’s not all bad, of course, but here’s the shocker:
When pressed on what programs he might go after, the governor mentioned historic and low income housing tax credits, both of which are widely used to fund development in the City of St. Louis and its older suburbs. But any specifics would likely need to be negotiated with lawmakers, some of whom have been targeting the historic tax credits program for years.
Of all of the tax credit programs in Missouri, Governor Nixon singles out the two most used in urban areas and one — the historic rehab tax credit — that average people can actually use. Hello?
5 replies on “Say What, Mr. Governor?”
Nixon is pandering to the rural area of Missouri–his roots. Everyone knows you're not a real Missourian if you don't live in the country. Us city-slickers are a drain on the state's economy, you know.
Michael, could you give a rough estimate of the number of city resident who now have an affordable, decent home thanks to this tax credit?
The number of people who would be affected by repealing the tax credit I assume to be quite staggering. Furthermore, this affect precisely that class (small homeowners) which is most sorely needed for neighborhood stabilization.
I hope everyone who reads this blog takes the time to write the governor and let him know this is a very, very short-sighted and bad idea.
Yep. The Democratic Party has just as many idiots as the Republican Party. Guv, I gotta say, this is no way to say thank you the regions which essentially contributed the most votes toward your election. Ya' know, without whom, etc., you wouldn't have been elected in the first place. But, when viewed in the larger context of the Democratic effort, at the federal level, to court Repubican support for its' programs, this makes a perfect kind of sense. A kind of sense, but not actual, factual sense. I suppose I could insert some blather about how the Dems should do this, or that, or some other thing, but it has become quite apparent, at least to this citizen, that neither party is at all interested in actually representing the hoi-polloi anymore. The Dems still pretend they do, but the Repigs whore themselves, utterly, to the corporate capitalists. This behavior is so transparent, and so without guile, I really have to laugh at the absurdity of the whole mess.
Ben, let me get that figure. It needs to be out in the debate.