Don’t Let MO Fund Cop Propaganda with Tax Breaks

I stand in strong opposition to SB845 (Hough), SB1608 (May), HB1882 (Allen), and HB3097 (Price). These bills represent a cynical and dangerous misuse of public funds. Instead of addressing the root causes of community needs—underfunded schools, mental health services, and youth programs—they propose handing half a million dollars annually in tax credits to further entangle non-profits with police departments. This is a direct subsidy to law enforcement's public relations, rebranding their image without requiring substantive change or accountability. We must not forget Ferguson and Michael Brown's murder by the police. The Department of Justice’s investigation laid bare a system of predatory policing, racial discrimination, and institutional violence that traumatized a community and sparked a national movement. These bills ask us to fund “trust-building” activities with the very institutions that systematically break trust. You cannot buy goodwill with tax credits while the apparatus of racialized policing, militarization, and violence remains fully intact and unaddressed. True safety for our youth, especially Black and brown youth in urban areas, comes from investment in them, not in partnerships with their oppressors. It comes from fully funded social services, affordable housing, and restorative justice—not from funding programs where police are the beneficiaries of charitable contributions. I urge you to reject these bills. Do not let the memory of Michael Brown be dishonored by using our tax code to whitewash the very issues the Ferguson uprising revealed. Invest in communities, not in cop propaganda.