The Missouri Senate will spend the second half of their session this year wrangling a bill from the Missouri House to eliminate statewide income tax. I’m not “mathy” enough to tell you if this is good or bad for me or you. As I told you last week, I’m part of the “me” party these days, so my support or non-support of legislation depends on what it does to me. I highly recommend the party, admittance is fairly simple.
Anyway, this process of eliminating the income tax and increasing a statewide sales tax seems a bit like rearranging the chairs on the Titanic, but I kind of like taxes that can be avoided if you so choose, which applies to areas of a sales tax and less to an income tax. It will be interesting what final version of this bill reaches a vote in the Senate.
Speaking of the Titanic, the wife and I checked out the failed ship’s exhibit at Union Station a couple of weeks ago. The tour includes an add on virtual reality portion that was interesting and novel, but still not ready for prime time. A bit wonky in my humble opinion, and I’m kind of an expert on “wonky.” Overall, the exhibit was interesting and worth seeing but lacked much in the way of unique artifacts or items that have not been seen in other exhibits.
For the record, the greatest shipwreck museum exhibit in the Midwest remains the Steamboat Arabia. In other news, Steamboat Arabia closes in November of 2026, with hopes of a new home, still up in the air.
If Mayor Q loses the Chiefs and the Steamboat Arabia during his tenure, he probably should just take a lawyer job somewhere and punt those higher office aspirations, cause his political career will be sunk.
See what I did there? Punt and sunk all in one paragraph. All the puns and euphemisms intended.
I have made it another year in my life of not watching the Oscars or caring who wins an Oscar. By extension, I also remain unaware of the politics, or really even the names, of any stars in Hollywood. I’m blessed.
Speaking of stars, my wife asked me if I wanted to go to a Cardi B concert this week. I had no idea who Cardi B is/was. I don’t even know its pronouns. The internet tells me “she’s” a rapper and was once married to a guy named “Offset.” I suppose “Offset” is not a mother given name, but a rapper or entertainer name, but who knows these days. Anyway, I’m not going to see Cardi or Offset. I read that she was maybe going out with NFL player Stefon Diggs, which put it all in perspective for me. Diggs was released by the Patriots this year for “salary cap” reasons, but it was probably for “too much Cardi” reasons, but I’m no expert.
Lastly, my latest World Cup ramblings involve the Kansas City earnings tax. I wonder if the players have been informed that they are subject to the tax when playing, working, and practicing in Kansas City? The city was quoted as saying they will make “best efforts” to collect. That is not encouraging if you pay the tax on the regular. I’ll be interested how good their “best efforts” are.
(Guy Speckman can be reached giving his best effort on writing a column)
