Senate budget leader: Missouri’s “vibrant” economy is growing as budget gets larger

Governor Mike Parson’s budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year is about one-billion-dollars larger than the current year’s budget. 

Springfield Republican Lincoln Hough, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, reiterates that in the last three budget years, Missouri’s state budget has been ‘inflated’ with one-time federal dollars because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

On growing state revenue, Hough says that’s partially due to more people working and spending their leisure time in the state… “We cut over $1 billion, a billion dollars, in individual income taxes about 18 months ago. Okay? When you do that and you have a growing and robust economy, you have more people working. So, more taxes are actually collected, even though individuals are paying a lesser amount, if that makes sense.” 

One of Parson’s requests includes 314.7 million dollars in capital improvement projects that transform how the state conducts research, trains workers, and supports communities.