Show Me Hypocrisy, Part 2

The irony of the Show Me Institute moving to St. Louis City while claiming that the earnings tax drives businesses away from St. Louis City was noted on this blog, in the RFT, on the Platform, on Political Fix, and at urbanSTL. And all after an insightful tweet by Patricia Bynes!

One of the common responses I've seen from the Right on these blog posts is that most of the SMI employees already live in St. Louis so already have to pay the earnings tax. Hence, the argument goes, there's nothing ironic about them moving the business to the city since they already have to pay the same amount of taxes. But actually, it seems to me that this is even more ironic! Check out this quote from the Show Me Institute: "By adopting an earnings tax, a city gives businesses and residents an incentive to locate production outside the city." The original point now just applies to the individuals. If the earnings tax is so horrible, then why would almost all of the employees of the Show Me Institute choose to live in the city? Obviously, because the benefits of living in the city outweigh the small cost of the earnings tax. The Show Me Institute's attempts to demonize the earnings tax is undermined by not only the institution's location, but also by the choices of its employees!