BUT WHERE ARE THE TAX CUTS?

Missouri state government will spend an all-time record $13.8 billion in fiscal year 1997, which begins July 1. This represents spending of $2,703.89 for each and every resident of the Show Me State. Except for slight reductions in appropriations for two agencies -- the departments of Health and Labor and Industrial Relations -- all other agencies' appropriations are rising, nearly all to record levels.

With all the focus on all this spending, hard-pressed Missouri taxpayers are looking for relief in the form of tax cuts. Tax relief and spending restraint should be at the forefront of every campaign for the General Assembly, as well as in the governor's race.