Missouri politicians find a way to keep those sweet tax credits flowing: screw the sick and the ...

Missouri politicians find a way to keep those sweet tax credits flowing: screw the sick and the elderly

Missouri has a budget problem, because it gave away too much money in corporate income tax breaks. Somebody is going to have to pay. The governor and GOP legislators think they know who that should be.

Old people.

At first, Republican Gov. Eric Greitens wanted to tighten Medicaid eligibility requirements and force as many as 21,000 elderly and disabled persons out of nursing homes and home-care programs, saving the state about $57 million.

Republicans in the Legislature who have been around a bit longer than the neophyte governor understand that the optics of kicking old, sick people into the street are questionable at best.

So budget writers have reached for a low-hanging fruit — a tax credit that helps low-income seniors and badly disabled persons live at home. Known as the “circuit breaker” property tax credit — because it protects vulnerable people against property tax overload — Missouri’s credit helps nearly 200,000 seniors and people with disabilities.

Read more: http://www.pitch.com/news/blog/20856237/missouri-politicians-find-a-way-to-keep-those-sweet-tax-credits-flowing-screw-the-sick-and-the-edlerlymissouri-politicians-find-a-way-to-keep-those-sweet-tax-credits-flowing-screw-the-sick-and-the-elderly