Jeff Fister Removing earning tax only makes sense if you can replace it03/02/2010Previous St. Louis mayors have floated the idea, usually under pressure from business leaders, but the trial balloons were quickly popped for a simple reason: the earnings tax generates 31 percent of the city’s revenue. Forget about Washington: Mr. Smith goes to prison instead01/06/2010I had lunch recently with former State Sen. Jeff Smith, who is going to prison next week. After that? We'll just have to see where Mr. Smith goes.