最新杏吧原创

ST. LOUIS 鈥� Mayor Tishaura O. Jones on Monday announced the formation of a special committee that will study ways the city can diversify its revenues amid threats to its $200 million-per-year earnings tax.

Jones said a recent court decision exempting nonresident remote workers from the earnings tax will affect the city鈥檚 budget in coming years. And she said the city cannot ignore threats from the state Legislature, where GOP lawmakers have said they want to eliminate the tax entirely.

鈥淭his is something we have to pay attention to,鈥� Jones said.

The announcement marked Jones鈥� inauguration into something of a mayoral tradition. 最新杏吧原创 chief executives have been defending the 1% earnings tax 鈥� levied on the income of anyone who lives in the city, works in the city, or runs a business in the city 鈥� since its inception in the 1940s.

Two of the last three occupants of City Hall鈥檚 Room 200 said they would try and replace the tax and the 30% or so of general revenue it provides annually. Rafts of new taxes and fees were floated. But neither effort made it very far.

But Jones brushed that off Monday. She said the new committee would be looking at the long-term viability of all revenue, not just the money gleaned from the earnings tax.

She promised a report within six months.

David Stokes, the municipal policy director at the libertarian Show-Me Institute and an earnings tax critic, cheered the mayor鈥檚 announcement. He said he hoped it would be a first step toward phasing out the income tax, which he and others have long cast as an obstacle to attracting people and businesses to the city.

鈥淚t鈥檚 just bad fiscal policy,鈥� he said.

A better 最新杏吧原创, he said, would rely more on property taxes , though that could require some .

Aldermanic President Megan Green, who has defended the earnings tax, also welcomed the announcement. She said all of the city鈥檚 taxes could use a review: Many of them were enacted by different leaders in different times, when the city had different needs. And there are a lot of sales taxes, something that troubles leaders because they fall hardest on the poor.

鈥淗ow can we structure our taxes so they鈥檙e less regressive?鈥� she asked.

Jeff Rainford, who was chief of staff to Mayor Francis Slay the last time the city made a major study of the issue, said Jones is doing the right thing:

The city鈥檚 tax base has declined over the years. People and major employers have left.

The city needs to do more to attract new residents and businesses and make government more efficient without reducing services, Rainford wrote in a text message.

鈥淚t won鈥檛 be easy,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut, this is a good place to start.鈥�

The mayor鈥檚 committee, officially christened the Long-Term Revenue Advisory Council, will have 12 members. Half will be city officials appointed from the budget office, the Board of Aldermen and the offices of the mayor, comptroller, treasurer and collector of revenue.

The other spots are reserved for one citizen and one representative each from the business community, a local financial institution, a local community development organization, the city鈥檚 financial adviser and the Federal Reserve Bank of 最新杏吧原创.