Statement from Governor Eric Greitens

Statement

"Lobbyists and special interests want you to pay more tax dollars to make them rich. Here's the trick they've played for years:

Come up with a program with a good mission and a nice name, like the "Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program"
Get politicians to spend billions of tax dollars on it.
Sweep half of that money off the table.
Profit.

That's what happened in Missouri for decades. There's a tax credit program that has made special interests rich, and hasn't gotten the results it promised. There are a lot of "developers" and "syndicators" who profit from taxpayer dollars, and they pay politicians big bucks to keep the program in place.

Meanwhile, audits from Republicans and Democrats have shown that only half of the money actually goes to low income housing. We need a quality program to actually get results for people--not a special interest scheme that makes insiders rich.

We zeroed out their funding. We're not playing their games anymore. Politics as usual is over.

Their lobbyists are furious. Of course they are. They make millions off this program. The politicians they fund are mad too.

Here's what they forget: I don't work for the lobbyists. I don't work for special interests. I work for Missourians, and the people of Missouri deserve a program that works. If a program is built on false promises and kickbacks to politicians, we're not going to give them more of your money.

Lobbyists and insiders hate it; the people of Missouri are for it, and we're proud to be fighting for you."

Source