Eliminate the Missouri Franchise Tax
Missouri is ranked number 16 on CNBC's top states for business. I intend for Missouri to be the number 1 state for business.
If I am elected your State Representative I will eliminate the Missouri Franchise Tax.
The explosion of business taxes have added more and more costs to operating a business in Missouri. As a small business owner I mail my tax payments to the Internal Revenue Service Regional Office in St. Louis and the Missouri Department of Revenue in Jefferson City four times a year. I must operate my small business several months of the year just to stay caught up on my quarterly tax payments. I have no problem paying my fair share of taxes but I am ardently opposed to any unnecessary taxes such as the Missouri Franchise Tax.
The name of the Missouri Franchise Tax is a little misleading. You may think the Missouri Franchise Tax is a tax charged to every person that owns a franchise in Missouri but is actually is a tax that is levied on every business that holds a certain amount of assets in Missouri.
Business owners from other states will quickly learn they will be punished if they relocate their business to Missouri because of our unnecessary Franchise Tax. If you are a Missouri based business wanting to expand you will be hit with the Missouri Franchise Tax when your assets rise above a certain amount. For example, if you decide to build an extension on to your business building to house new employees, you will be penalized with the Franchise Tax if your total assets rise above $1,000,000. The Missouri Franchise Tax basically encourages businesses to "remain small" by keeping their assets under $1,000,000 instead of planning for growth and expansion. It also makes Missouri extremely unattractive to out of state business owners searching for the best state for business.
I don't want to sound negative because I truly love Missouri but I believe the Missouri Franchise Tax is an unwarranted tax that is punishing any Missouri based business that wants to grow and expand while letting out of state businesses know Missouri will add unnecessary costs to any large business investment. The Missouri Franchise Tax only generates a small amount of revenue for the State, which will easily be made up by the increased sales tax revenues that will be produced when businesses are allowed to grow and expand.
We cannot punish business owners by adding unnecessary taxation on their business operations during bad economic times. We must reward business owners by lowering or eliminating needless business taxes. As your Missouri State Representative, I will introduce legislation that will eliminate the Missouri Franchise Tax. The elimination of the Missouri Franchise Tax will offer extra incentive for out of state business owners that are searching for a new state for their business and will motivate Missouri companies to expand. Abolishing this tax will create new Missouri jobs.
We need every tool necessary to give Missouri the competitive edge when recruiting new business. Eliminating the Missouri Franchise Tax could be just the tool we need.
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