Rally opposing GOP plan to eliminate Missouri income tax draws 200
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Rally of about 200 opponents targets GOP plan to swap income tax for sales taxes.
- Critics warn shift could raise costs for working and middle‑class households.
- Measure now heads to Senate; activists plan nine rallies and long ballot fight.
The fight over a Missouri constitutional amendment that would replace the state’s income tax with sales taxes is already underway, with a rally on Wednesday that attracted about 200 people who are opposed to the plan.
The bill passed in the House on Thursday and will need to be approved by the Senate before reaching Gov. Mike Kehoe’s desk. If signed, voters would then decide whether to grant lawmakers broad authority to gradually eliminate the income tax by raising sales taxes.
The plan is the top priority of the Republican governor and was sponsored by the House’s highest-ranking member, House Speaker Jon Patterson, a Lee’s Summit Republican.
Missouri generates about 60% of its general revenue from income tax, and lawmakers would need to raise revenue from other sources to gradually decrease the income tax.
A series of speakers painted the proposed revamping of the tax system as a scheme to raise taxes on the working and middle class people and decrease them for high earners. Lower-earning families typically spend more of their household income on sales taxes than higher earners.
“I think this is something that will be very devastating to many working families here, and it’s just a corporate handout,” Bill Thompson, a leader with the Missouri Workers Center and Stand Up KC, told The Star.
“There’s nothing to guarantee that our roads will be taken care of, that our firefighters will be paid for, our police department will be funded,” Thompson said.
The rally at the Central Presbyterian Church focused on potential impacts on workers and schools. Elizabeth Warwick, a Kansas City Public Schools instructional coach, citing the Missouri Budget Project, said the state could lose 27,000 teachers under the plan. Supporters of the proposal have disputed the Missouri Budget Project’s estimate.
“It’s going to mean larger class sizes. It’s going to mean teachers lose their jobs. It’s going to mean our kids are losing their music and art classes,” Warwick said.
Supporters say the policy modernizes Missouri’s tax system and could capture revenues from untapped sources like streaming services. But the resolution, as written, doesn’t limit what lawmakers could levy taxes on.
“It is a modernization, because you could notice a decrease in some of the sales taxes you’re paying now. There may be more things under that umbrella,” Patterson said during a press conference last week.
A poll conducted by YouGov and St. Louis University found that 52% of Missourians said the state should rely more on sales taxes to raise revenue.
But when asked areas where the state should expand sales taxes to achieve reductions in income tax, respondents didn’t support raising taxes for any currently untaxed services like home sales, car repair, streaming services, fuel or professional services.
The rally is just one of nine planned by Fighting for Mo., a coalition of advocacy groups including Missouri Jobs for Justice, Missouri Workers Center and Parents for KC Kids. The group plans to continue its advocacy efforts, and signalled a long path if the measure makes it to the ballots.
“We have to organize to try and stop it in the Senate. If we can stop it, or at least slow it down in the Senate, that gives us momentum to be able to fight this when it gets on the ballot in November,” Michael Kelly, a policy professional who ran for the Kansas City Council in 2023, told the crowd.
