Tomorrow at 1:00 pm, the House Finance Committee will hear H-5365, “Sales & Meals Tax Repeal Act”.  (Side note:  how often on Smith Hill do you see the words “tax” and “repeal” positively juxtaposed in a bill?)  As it sounds, the bill would repeal all of Rhode Island’s sales and meals tax.

The Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity contends that

For little more than the $75 million the state wasted on 38 Studios chasing only 400 jobs, first year budget cuts of $105 million to pay for Zero.Zero could put the state on a path to produce 25,000 jobs!

Even phasing out the sales tax over 4 years, would produce more than 5000 jobs per year.

It was a revelation to me that the basis for these assertions, a computer modeling tool called STAMP (customized for Rhode Island), was not invented just last year but, in fact, is over ten years old and has been customized for and utilized in twenty four other states.

Mike Stenhouse summarizes well  in this GoLocalProv  article the approach that our leaders have taken both to our tax policy and to the larger issue of economic development.

For too long, policymakers have considered only two options: raising taxes or doing nothing … Both of these have clearly failed our citizens.

It will be interesting to see whether any attempt tomorrow to refute the conclusions of the STAMP model is based on an equally in-depth, dare one say, scientific analysis or is merely couched in vague, intransigent, status quo-embracing generalities.

The hearing will take place tomorrow at the State House in Room 35 at 1:00 pm.