© 2024 University of Missouri - KBIA
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Missouri’s state budget for next year is on its way to Gov. Jay Nixon.

Missouri’s state budget for next year is on its way to Governor Jay Nixon. Several departments and agencies appear to have higher budgets in next year’s spending plan than they do right now.

Budget leaders say that’s because they’re using more precise numbers this year, instead of estimates.  Either way, Democrat Sara Lampe  of Springfield says the state is not getting enough revenue.  She compared Missouri’s budget woes to the movie, “The Hunger Games”:

“Where scarce resources pit good people against each other, and in the movie, some people win, some people lose, and even some of them die…I know we can do better…I urge you to take action so next year’s budget won’t be Missouri’s version of The Hunger Games.”

Lampe called on the Missouri Senate to take up and pass the tax amnesty bill, which supporters say would provide an extra 70 million dollars in revenue. 

She also wants lawmakers to support collecting sales taxes on Internet purchases, and she urged voters to pass a ballot initiative in November that would raise the state’s cigarette tax.  Governor Nixon has until the end of June to sign the budget into law.