Happy April 15th! -- or maybe not. It's "Tax Day," and there's a good chance that you're rushing to complete your return and get it in the mail by midnight. On no other day of the year do Americans feel the cost of government quite so painfully.

If you're "the average Missourian," nearly one third of your working life was spent paying the cost of government this year. You worked until April 14th earning the money to pay the costs of government (local, state and federal) -- and that's not including "hidden" taxes imposed by inflation, government debt and excess regulation. You worked all of January and a day extra to pay your federal income taxes, and then all of February to cover Social Security and Medicaid.

There's a better way.

As your congressman, I'll work to drastically reduce your tax burden. I'll support legislation to eliminate the income tax, and until such legislation gains enough support pass into law, I'll work for two specific proposals that give everyone real tax cuts.

• I'll support a large, regular, annual increase in the "personal exemption" to the federal income tax. Every year, every American will be able to make more money before paying any tax at all. Every year, more Americans at the bottom of the economic ladder will be able to keep their entire incomes.
  
  
• I'll support a "FICA floor" equal to the the income tax's "personal exemption" amount. The first dollars you earn every year, up to that "floor," will be exempt from perniciously regressive Social Security and Medicaid "premiums."
  

Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. I was too young to be aware of that event at the time it happened, but Dr. King's life and struggle have nonetheless been the measure of my generation's own political journey. He demonstrated the power of non-violent -- but active, firm and unyielding -- resistance to tyranny.

I was privileged to attend a Martin Luther King remembrance ceremony and community unity rally last night at Douglass Memorial Church of God in Christ in Meacham Park. This wasn't a "campaign event" as such for me, although I did introduce myself as a candidate to the wonderful people I met at the rally.

Most people in the St. Louis area will recognize Meacham Park as a troubled neighborhood -- annexed in the early 1990s by neighboring Kirkwood and partially eradicated (using the government's power of eminent domain) for "economic development." Many will remember that earlier this year, a resident of Meacham Park, Charles Lee "Cookie" Thornton, killed several Kirkwood city officials and was himself killed by police, after some long-festering disputes related to the neighborhood's situation.

What most people won't know, if they weren't at last night's rally or haven't spent time in Meacham Park, is the spirit of healing -- and determination to secure equal justice for themselves and those around them -- that moves in this neighborhood.

As your representative in Washington, I'll work diligently to cut taxes and slash bureaucracy. As a matter of fact, I'll support eliminating the federal income tax ... and until and unless I can get it eliminated, I'll support cutting it at every opportunity.

What I won't support is the so-called "Fair Tax" -- a national sales tax to replace the income tax -- advocated by some members of Congress. House co-sponsors of "Fair Tax" legislation include my opponent, Congressman Todd Akin.

What's wrong with the "Fair Tax?" A lot.

Like most American taxpayers, you probably received a letter from the IRS recently ... and after that brief moment of panic, you probably opened it to read the following:

We are pleased to inform you that the United States Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed into law the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, which provides for economic stimulus payments to be made to over 130 million households.

Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? "Stimulus payments" of up to $1,200 per household, more for families with children. Like one of those sweepstakes letters, only the check really is in the mail.

You got that letter -- which cost $40 million to mail, by the way -- for a good reason: Politicians like Congressman Todd Akin, who voted for the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, want to make sure you know that they are "giving you money." And lest you forget, you can expect another self-congratulatory letter before you get your check.

Make no mistake about this: I don't begrudge you that $1,200. But let's think this over for just a minute. Where did that money come from? Or, rather, where will it come from?