GOVERNOR CANDIDATE BACKS TAX

JACKSON - State Treasurer Wendell Bailey, who has his eye on the governor's office, says he supports a $385 million tax increase and education reform package that will be going to Missouri voters Nov. 5.

"I'm supporting it and like the package that will be going to voters," said Bailey, during a recent visit to Jackson to promote his office's MO BUCKS program.

Bailey said the treasurer's office will play whatever role necessary to promote the tax campaign. "We'll put our two cents into the fight wherever it is applicable," he said.

Bailey initially supported a plan by Senate President Pro Tem James Mathewson that would've raised about $458 million for education. The bill passed the Senate, but after input from the House and Governor John Ashcroft, the plan was changed before it won approval on the last day of the legislative session.

Bailey said that although he supports the final plan hammered out between Ashcroft, Mathewson and House Speaker Bob Griffin, the way the plan was drafted wasn't ideal.

"I would give them a B on this," he said. "They should not have gone behind closed doors the last three days of the session. They should have taken the legislative process and let that work. That would have been the best approach."

Bailey said many of the reforms called for in the bill are included in his education position paper, which he recently distributed as part of his campaign for the Republican nomination for governor in 1992.

He said the amount of money called for in the package for education is "needed and appropriate."

Bailey said he would have preferred that the plan not include a three-eights of a cent sales tax increase because the state's sales tax already is excessive. He said he preferred an increase in Missouri's personal income tax rate, which "is relatively low."

Bailey said the package likely was doomed until Democrats, Republicans, and Governor Ashcroft came together to agree on a final plan. "The governor's support is absolutely critical to passing anything," he said.

Bailey said he was optimistic that voters will support the plan, which he called "a reasonable package. It is pretty straight up or down on education," he added.

He said he thinks the reforms included in the package will enhance its chances of passing. "Education will have to sell itself that they need the additional money and that if they get it they will use it well," Bailey said.

Another key to the success or failure of the package will be continued bi-partisan support that enabled the issue to win legislative approval, he added.