Friday, November 17, 2017

Greitens eliminates tax credits for low income housing

(From Gov. Eric Greitens)

“We're sick of politicians wasting your tax money.

Today, we put an end to politics as usual, to save the people of Missouri hundreds of millions of dollars.

Here's the problem: Politicians spend millions of your money on projects that sound nice, but don't get results.

If you care about people, and you care about taxpayers, you've got to fight for results.

There's a special interest tax credit program in Missouri that started out with good intentions: the Missouri “Low Income Housing” tax credit. It was a fine idea: use some tax dollars to build houses for poor people.

Missourians are generous. They put aside a lot of money for this program. In fact, Missouri built one of the biggest low income housing programs in the country.

But here's what happened: for every dollar that went into the program, only about 42 to 55 cents actually went to building housing for poor people. That’s a bad deal any way you cut it.

If you spend a hard-earned dollar, you expect a dollar of value. I came here as a conservative, an outsider, a Navy SEAL, and a budget hawk to fight for you. And I believe that when it comes to your tax money, if the government spends a dollar, you should get your money's worth.

It's your money, and I'll fight to protect it every day.

A lot of politicians fear the insiders in this industry. So, for years and years and years, they've been willing to waste your money.

Today, they held a meeting about this program to figure out how much of your money to spend next year. We took action. We zeroed out this failing program, and saved tens of millions of dollars.

No. More. Giveaways.

We have to take care of people in Missouri. We have to watch our dollars, and spend them wisely. There are a lot of hard-working people in Missouri who are struggling. They need our help.

Good affordable homes for people who are working hard to get by are important. We're here to work with people across Missouri, on both sides of the aisle, to do what works.

But let's be clear: Politics as usual is over.”

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