Teresa Hensley: Kurt Schaefer making googly eyes to “King Rex” Sinqefield with earnings tax legislation

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Earlier this week, Missouri Sen. Kurt Schaefer kicked up Kansas City’s earnings tax campaign early when he introduced a bill to eliminate the 1 percent tax on workers and residents in the city.

Kansas City voters were going to vote in April anyway on whether to renew the tax. But Schaefer is so upset with Kansas City and St. Louis trying to usurp the Missouri General Assembly’s authority on the minimum wage that he’s looking to impose demands on his own on how Missouri’s two biggest cities finance their local governments.

Kansas City Mayor Sly James teamed up with the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce and the Civic Council to issue a forceful denunciation of Schaefer’s bill.

“Civic and business leaders agree that the earnings tax is a sound and fundamental way for Kansas City to finance City services,” James said in a written statement.

Indeed, Kansas City leaders want to hold on to the earnings tax. At $228 million a year, it’s the largest source of general fund revenue. Schaefer’s bill would eliminate the earnings tax all at once at the end of 2017 if it passes. 

On Thursday, former Cass County prosecutor Teresa Hensley, now running for Missouri attorney general, put Schaefer on blast, seemingly indicating that Schaefer had more on his mind this week than offering recriminations for Kansas City’s attempt at a minimum-wage workaround.

In a statement to media, she portrayed Schaefer (who is also running for AG) as a mindless suck-up to billionaire Rex Sinquefield, so desperate to get a cut of the St. Louis political financier’s thick stack of cash that he would commit to carrying legislation supporting Sinquefield’s view of taxation. Sinquefield is an ardent critic of the earnings tax.

Because Senator Schaefer is seeking higher office and has a very special donor he must appease in order to raise the millions he will need to win.

Rex Sinquefield has already given him a $750,000 campaign contribution – and Senator Schaefer wants more to advance his political career.

Senator Schaefer has decided his political gain is more important than the safety of
Kansas City and St. Louis residents. He is letting one political donor (King Rex Sinquefield) drive decisions that would gut our two major cities’ budgets for police officers and fire fighters.

See, King Rex believes all income taxes are bad. Even ones like the earnings tax that voters have approved in order to fund their local government. But the King will not support you if you are not willing to support the King. So while you might think that the Senator from Columbia, home to the University of Missouri, might have more important priorities, he is instead doing the bidding for King Rex Sinquefield, and pre-filing a bill at the earliest possible date to gut the city budgets of St. Louis and Kansas City.

Shame on Kurt Schaefer.

Lost in this earnings tax discussion is anyone publicly siding with Schaefer locally for his earnings tax bill.

But to some politicians, one friend with money is worth more than 750,000 friends without a dime to spare.