Missouri - #2 Alcohol

The alcohol category includes restrictions on distribution, taxes, blue laws, keg registrations, and “happy hour” bans.
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Change since 2016
Alcohol
#1
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CHANGE since 2016

Analysis

Missouri is one of the country’s freer states, but in recent years it has run the risk of falling back into the middle of the pack. Its slide in regulatory policy is most worrisome, especially because it is not merely relative but is absolute as well, including and excluding federalized policies.

Missouri’s local taxes are a bit above average (4.1 percent of adjusted personal income), but state taxes are well below average (4.4 percent of income), making for high fiscal decentralization. In addition, Missourians have some choice in local government, with more than one effective competing jurisdiction per 100 square miles. We show that state taxes have fallen since FY 2007 and overall taxes are less than average. Government consumption plus investment and employment is also below average, whereas debt and cash and security assets are about average.

We see good evidence of continued backsliding on regulatory policy. The state has adopted a modest renewable portfolio standard and has done little to limit eminent domain for private gain. But overall land-use policy is above average. Local zoning is quite loose compared with other states. The state adopted a right-to-work law in 2017, as we suggested in the fourth edition, but a statewide referendum then blocked it. Missouri’s minimum wage was hiked in 2018. The state does above average on occupational licensing, although our two main measures of licensure extent point in very different directions. Freedom is limited for nurses, physician assistants, and dental hygienists. The civil liability system remains below average and went backward between 2013 and 2015. Insurance rate-setting freedom is fairly high. Cable and telecommunications are fully liberalized.

Missouri has a fairly strict approach to criminal justice, involving long sentences that lead to an incarceration rate that is well above average and a high level of arrests for drugs. It does better when it comes to other victimless crimes. It also has a low prison phone rate and wisely avoids suspending driver’s licenses for nondriving drug offenders. The incarceration rate did notably fall between 2017 and 2019. The state’s asset forfeiture law is one of the best in the country, but it is frequently circumvented through equitable sharing. An extensive medical marijuana law was adopted in 2018, but you can still get life in prison for a single marijuana offense not involving minors. Same-sex marriage was banned in 2014, but the Obergefell decision trumped that restriction. Missouri is a good state for gambling, alcohol, and tobacco freedoms. Cigarette and alcohol taxes are notably low, and smoking bans are more moderate than in other states, although several localities (including St. Louis city and county) did pass a minimum legal sale age increase to 21 for tobacco products in 2016. Gun rights were slightly better than average in 2015 and got better in 2016 after substantial reform (something we called for in the fourth edition of this study). The state secured the right not to retreat from attackers in public during 2016 and allowed for permitless concealed carry. Raw milk sales are legal, whereas seat belts and motorcycle helmets are required by law.

Policy Recommendations

  • Fiscal: Clamp down on the more than 1,000 special districts, which local governments form to get around tax and debt limitations and which local voters find hard to monitor. Dissolve as many as possible and make it difficult to form new ones.
  • Regulatory: Improve labor and occupational freedom by securing the right to work while promoting independent practice freedom for nurses, physician assistants, and dental hygienists.
  • Personal: Pass strict anti-circumvention reform to eliminate the equitable sharing loophole in the state’s civil asset forfeiture laws that costs Missourians millions.