Ducks and Economics

From State Auditor Susan Montee’s audit of Missouri’s tax credit system:

Tax credit redemptions in the state of Missouri have increased from about $372 million in fiscal year 2001 to over $584 million in fiscal year 2009, an increase of 57 percent in 8 years, while net General Revenue (GR) Fund – State collections over the same time period increased from about $6.44 billion to $7.45 billion, an increase of 15.7 percent. Tax credit redemptions as a percentage of net GR Fund collections increased from 5.8 percent in 2001 to 7.8 percent in 2009.

Fiscal notes associated with legislation establishing or modifying tax credit programs do not accurately project the financial impact on the state’s GR Fund collections. For 15 tax credit programs reviewed, the actual redemptions exceeded the projected long term fiscal impact by a net amount of over $1.1 billion for the 5 years ended June 30, 2009. In total, 96 fiscal note sections were associated with the 15 programs we reviewed, and 16 sections indicated the amount of impact was unknown. Since fiscal notes have not accurately projected the financial impact of tax credit programs, the General Assembly should consider increasing the use of alternative cost containment measures to better control the costs of tax credit programs.

Here is the Columbia Tribune with more.