Passing Through Missouri: Left Behind on Taxes?
Missouri's economic growth was lagging the country, reinforcing the concern raised in our earlier report, Cutting The Ties That Bind: End Missouri's Corporate Income Tax. To illustrate the state's relative performance, this essay presents three indexed comparisons beginning in 1997: real gross domestic product, real GDP per capita, and total nonfarm employment.
In each table, a higher 2011 index represents stronger growth. Missouri ranks among the ten weakest-performing states in all three measures. The pattern suggests a broad competitiveness problem rather than a single bad year or isolated sector.
If Missouri wants better long-run economic results, it needs to make its business climate more attractive. Tax policy—particularly the treatment of pass-through entities and business income—is a central part of that discussion.
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