In front of a sold-out crowd of almost 600 business leaders gathered at a Missouri State University arena, the Republican governor since 2018 touted his administration’s record in terms of heavy emphasis on job growth and workforce development, along with big spending on infrastructure like Interstates 70 and 44, airports and river ports. He says all of it is key to developing Missouri’s economy for years to come.
Parson also took the chance to announce that the state’s tax revenue goals were enough this year to trigger automatic tax cuts under a pair of bills passed in 2022. Missouri taxpayers increased net general revenue by $322.6 million, well over the laws’ $200 million requirement for tax cuts.
Receiving applause, the governor told the crowd, “You gotta be smart when you cut taxes. You gotta make sure that the revenue is justifying your cuts sometimes, that you’re doing well. But when it is, and people are responding, you need to reward the everyday people out there. So we are proud to announce that we have met the requirements to deliver another tax cut for Missourians: The fifth cut of our administration since I been governor.”
Missouri’s top income-tax rate will fall from 4.8 percent to 4.7 percent, effective January 1. Overall, Parson’s office says Missourians are paying an income tax burden that’s one-fifth smaller than it was when he took office. At a press conference after his speech, Parson told Ozarks Public Radio that the cuts signify more Missouri people are working.
"There’s more businesses coming here," he said, "and the jobs are going up, payrolls are going up, and people really are spending money for us in the state of Missouri, and we’re so fortunate [to have] that here.”
Federal jobs data released two weeks ago classes Missouri as one of the top 3 states for job growth percentage increase from June of last year through June of this year. Preliminary data for June showed more than 3.1 million Missourians active in the civilian workforce.
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